A  Concise  History 

of  the 

Presbyterian  Church 


Willi  a  m  Hen  ry  Ko  Berts 


LiBRAnVOFKKiNGETON 


JAN  2  7  2006 


BX  8935  .R62  1920 
Roberts,  William  Henry, 

1844-1920. 
A  concise  history  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the 


%%^ 


A  CONCISE  HISTORY 

OF  THE 

PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

IN  THE 

UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 

.    WITH  AN  ADDRESS  ON  THE 

200IS  ANNIVERSARY 
OF  THE  GENERAL  SYNOD 

BY 

REV.  WILLIAM  HENRY  ROBERTS,  D.D.,  LL.D. 


STATED  CLERK  OF  THE  GE 


!7ERAL  ASSSMBLI 


LIBRARY  OF  PR 

I 


AM  2  7 


THFOiOGiCAL  ? 


PHILADELPHIA 
THE  PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION 
AND  SABBATH  SCHOOL  WORK 
1920 


NCCTC 


006 


?,;"fKiA 


Copyright.  1917 
Sj   F.  M.  Braseli 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


PAGE 

I    The  First  Settlements 7 

II    The  First  Presbytery  and  Synod,  1706-1743 19 

III  Division  and  Growth,  1745-1775 26 

IV  National  Independence  and  the  Adoption  of 

the  Constitution,  1776-1788 32 

V    Expansion  and  Revivals,  1789-1835 43 

VI    Old  and  New  School  Division,  1835-1869 55 

VII    Reunion  and  Advance,  1870-1900 63 

VIII    The  Twentieth  Century 67 


[8] 


INTRODUCTION 


This  concise  history  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  United  States  of  America  was  first  issued 
in  1888,  in  connection  mth  the  centennial  cele- 
bration of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  Church.  This  edition  brings  the  record  uj) 
to  the  present  time.  It  is  issued  with  the  dis- 
tinct understanding  that  it  is  nothing  more  than 
an  outhne  of  the  more  important  features  of  the 
history,  and  it  does  not  claim  anything  like 
completeness. 

William  H.  Roberts. 


(51 


A  CONCISE  HISTORY  OF 

THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

IN  THE  U.  S.  A. 


I 
THE  FIRST  SETTLEMENTS 

AMERICAN  Presbyterianism  is  in  origin  as 
diverse  as  are  the  various  peoples  who  have 
blended  to  fo  m  the  American  nation. 
Its  component  elements  are,  in  the  main,  English 
and  Scotch-Irish,  Scotch  and  Welsh,  French  and 
German.  The  differing  origins  and  national 
relationships  of  the  colonists  in  part  account  for 
the  existence  of  the  several  Presbyterian  denomi- 
national Churches  in  the  United  States. 

THE  SEVERAL  DENOMINATIONAL  CHURCHES 

There  are  ten  important  denominational 
Churches  in  the  United  States,  designated  either 
as  Presbyterian  or  Reformed,  which  stand  for  the 
Reformed  Faith  and  Presbyterian  principles  of 
government  and  worship.  Of  these,  three  are 
traceable  to  immigration  from  the  mainland  of 
Europe,  the  Reformed  (Dutch)  Church  in  America, 
and  the  Christian  Reformed  Church,  both  of 
which  originated  in  Holland;  and  the  Reformed 
(German)  Church  in  the  United  States,  whose 
[7] 


// 


A   CONCISE  HISTORY   OF 

beginnings  were  in  Switzerland  and  Germany. 
Four  of  the  Churches  are  directly  connected  with 
the  Secession  and  Relief  movements  in  the  Church 
of  Scotland  during  the  eighteenth  century,  viz.y 
the  United  Presbyterian  Church,  the  Synod  of 
the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  in  North 
America,  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  in 
North^America,  General  Synod,  and  the  Associate 
ReformedjPresbyterian  Synod.  The  English  and 
Welsh  Presbyterian  elements  in  the  colonies, 
along  with  the  French  Protestants,  or  Huguenots, 
combined  at  an  early  day  with  the  Scotch  and 
Scotch-Irish  elements  to  form  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United^  States  of  America.  The 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  was,  and  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  .(South) 
is  a  branch  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States  of  America,  the  first  separating  in 
1810,  and  the  second  in  1861.  The  first,  how- 
ever, reunited  with  the  parent  Church  in  1906. 
The  youngest  of  the  American  Presbyterian 
Churches,  the  Welsh,  originated  in  the  prin- 
cipality of  Wales,  during  the  Revival  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  began  organized  work  in 
the  United  States  about  1816.  These  Churches, 
however  they  may  differ  in  matters  of  practice 
and  worship,  are  substantially  one  in  government, 
and  all  maintain  the  principles  of  the  Reformed 
system  of  doctrine  as  contained  either  in  the 
Canons  of  the  Synod  of  _Pprt,  the  Westminster 
[8] 


THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

Confession  of  Faith,  or  the  Heidelberg  Catechism. 
Of  these  Churches  the  largest  is  the_Presb.Yterian 
Church  in  the  United^States  of  Americaj  into  it 
have  been  gathered  elements  from  all  the  others, 
and  its  history  is  concisely  stated  in  the  follow- 
ing pages. 

VIRGINIA  AND  MARYLAND 

The  country  which  gave  to  the  Reformed 
Churches  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith, 
was  the  original  home  of  the  first  settlers  in  the 
American  colonies  with  Presbyterian  tendencies. 
As  early  as  1572,  EngUsh  Presbyterians  organized 
at  Wandsworth,  near  London,  a  congregational 
!^sbytery,  and  the  Presbyterian  was  the  con- 
trolling element  in  the  Puritan  party.  This  is 
show^n  by  the  fact  that  the  Church  of  England 
was  by  act  of  Parliament  made  Presbyterian  in 
government  and  worship  in  1645.  The  stream  of 
Puritan  emigration  westward,  set  in  motion  from 
England  early  in  the  seventeenth  century  by 
Episcopal  tyranny,  touched  first  the  shores  of 
Virginia.  It  would  appear  that  before  1614 
Rev.  Alexander  Whitakef  was  pastor  of  a  church 
at  Bermuda  Hundred,  in  that  colony,  and  that  the 
affairs  of  the  church  were  "consulted  on  by  the 
minister  and  four  of  the  most   religious  men." 

A  little  later  Rev.  Robert  Bolton  ministered 
to  a  church  on  the  Elizabeth  River,  where  in  1690, 
Makemie   found  Josias  Mackie,   an  Irish  Pres- 


A   CONCISE    HISTORY  OF 

byterian.  This  Puritan  element  in  the  colony 
was  increased  largely  until  the  year  1642,  when  the 
royal  governor,  Sir  William  Berkeley,  commenced 
a  systematic  and  vigorous  persecution  of  dis- 
senters from  the  Church  of  England,  which  re- 
sulted in  the  disbandment  of  their  churches,  and 
the  removal,  in  1649,  of  a  considerable  portion  of 
them  to  Maryland.  In  the  latter  colony  they 
located  at  the  mouthofjhe  SeveriL.Blyer,  on  the 
site  of  the  present  city  of  Ajuiapoli^,  and  called 
the  place  Proyidenc^.  Several  attempts  to  dis- 
possess them  were  made  by  the  agents  of  Lord 
Baltimore,  the  proprietor  of  the  province,  but 
under  leaders  named  Durand  and  Bennett — 
who,  it  is  asserted,  were  ruling  elders — they 
conducted  an  armed  and  successful  resistance, 
and  for  a  time  controlled  the  colony.  Their 
numbers  were  increased  about  1670  by  colonists 
from  Fifeshire  who  had  been  brought  over  by 
Captain  Ninian  Beale.  Some  churches  dis- 
tinctively Presbyterian  were  founded  by  them, 
and  it  is  certain  that  ministers  holding  Presby- 
terian views — among  whom  were  Francis  Doughty 
(1658)  and  Matthew  Hill  (1667)— preached  in 
their  midst.  The  latter  writing  to  Richard 
Baxter  in  1669,  said:  "We  have  many  of  the 
Reformed  rehgion,  who  have  a  long  while  lived 
as  sheep  without  a  shepherd,  though  last  year 
brought  in  a  young  man  from  Ireland,  who  hath 
already  had  good  success  in  his  work.  We  have 
fiol 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

room  for  more  ministers."  It  was  in  Maryland, 
also,  that  WilKam  Traill,  moderator  of  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Laggan,  Ireland,  found  temporary 
refuge  in  1682,  after  his  imprisonment  in  his 
native  land,  and  there  Francis  Makemie,  of  the 
same  Presbytery,  a  year  later  began  his  fruitful 
labors. 

THE  NEW  ENGLAND  COLONISTS 

Presbyterianism  also  entered  the  American 
colonies  with  the  settlers  of  New  England. 
John  Robinson,  the  pastor  of  the  Plymouth 
Pilgrims  while  in  Holland,  has  left  on  record  the 
following  declaration  of  their  Church  principles: 
"Touching  the  ecclesiastical  ministry — namely, 
of  pastors  for  teaching,  elders  for  ruling,  deacons 
for  distributing  the  church's  contributions — 
we  do  wholly  in  all  points  agree  with  the  French 
Reformed  churches."  The  first  church  ofiicer  to 
plant  his  feet  on  Plymouth  Rock,  in  1620,  was 
William  Brewster,  the  ruling  elder  of  this  church. 
A  considerable  number  of  the  colonists  at  Salem, 
Massachusetts,  were  also  inclined  to  Presby- 
terianism in  church  government.  In  1630  Rev. 
Richard  Denton,  a  graduate  of  Cambridge 
University,  England,  and  a  Presbyterian,  settled 
in  Massachusetts,  with  a  part  of  the  church  which 
he  had  previously  served  for  several  years  at 
Coley  Chapel,  Hahfax,  Yorkshire.  In  1637  Rev. 
Francis  Doughty,  the  displaced  vicar  of  Sodbury, 
[11] 


A  CONCISE   HISTORY  OF 

Gloucestershire,  settled  in  Taunton,  Massa- 
chusetts, but,  holding  and  teaching  the  prevalent 
Presbyterian  view  on  the  right  to  baptism  of  the 
infants  of  baptized  persons,  he  was  driven  out  of 
the  colony  by  the  civil  authorities.  Early 
Congregationalism  was  nearly  as  intolerant  of 
opposing  opinions  as  was  Episcopacy,  and 
tolerated  for  a  comparatively  short  time  only  the 
governmental  views  of  John  Robinson.  Those 
colonists  who  had  Presbyterian  tendencies  found 
it  advantageous  to  settle  in  Long  Island  and 
Northern  New  Jersey.  Desirous  of  enjoying 
peaceful  conditions  they  withdrew  from  persecu- 
tion in  Massachusetts,  seeking  shelter  with  the 
Dutch  Calvinists  of  New  York.  This  trend  of 
influences  is  shown  clearly  in  the  movements  of 
Rev.  Richard  Denton,  w^ho  after  a  sojourn  in 
Connecticut  finally  settled  at  Hempstead,  Long 
Islan^  where  he  was  pastor  from  1644  to  1659, 
and  was  definitely  recognized  as  a  Presbyterian 
by  the  Reformed  Dutch  pastors  of  New  Amster- 
dam. That  his  church,  like  all  churches  in  these 
new  communities,  was  composed  in  part  of 
Independents,  cannot  affect  the  fact  that  the 
majority  of  the  members  were  English  and  Dutch 
Presbyterians.  Denton  returned  to  England  in 
1659,  but  his  sons,  Nathaniel  and  Daniel,  re- 
mained, and,  it  IS  asserted,  founded  in  1656  the 
Presbyterian  church  of  Jamaica,  Long  Island. 
If  this  claim  can  be  substantiated,  that  church  is 
[12] 


THE    PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

the  oldest  distinctively  Presbyterian  church  in 
the  United  States  with  an  unbroken  life^  The 
oldest  church  on  Long  Island,  however,  now  under 
the  care  of  the  General  Assembly,  is  that  of  South- 
old^  estabhshed  in  1640^  of  which  Rev.  John 
Youngs  was  the  first  pastor.  This  church  was 
founded  by  a  colony  from  New  Haven,  Connecti- 
cut, and  came  into  relation  to  organized  Presby- 
terianism  during  the  early  years  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  It  is  also  worthy  of  note  that  the 
founders  of  the  first  Presbyterian  churches  in 
North  and  South  New  Jersey — in  the  former, 
Newark  (1666),  Elizabeth  (1665),  Woodbndge 
(1680);  in  the  latter,  Fairfield  (1680)— were 
from  Connecticut  and  Long  Island.  Connecticut 
as  weU  as  Virginia  may  rightly  be  regarded  as  a 
portion  of  the  Presbyterian  heritage.  The  church 
at  Freehold,  New  Jersey  (1692),  was  established 
by  immigrants  from  Scotland.  Further,  the 
Church  at  New  Castle,  Delaware,  founded  in 
1657,  was  originally  Reformed  Dutch. 

NORTH  AND  SOUTH  CAROLINA 

By  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
Presbyterian  immigrants  had  pushed  their  way 
into  all  the  colonies.  Some  of  these  appear 
to  have  entered  North  Carolina  as  early  as 
1650,  jriven  there  by  persecution  in  Virginia. 
Presbyterians  and  Independents  settled  jointly 
in  South  Carolina  as  early  as  1670,  and  from  th»t 
[13] 


A    CONCISE   HISTORY   OF 

year  to  1700  their  number  was  increased  by  immi- 
grants from  Old  and  New  England  and  from 
Scotland.  The  most  prominent  ministers  among 
them  were  Rev.  Joseph  Lord,  from  Massa- 
chusetts, and  Rev.  Archibald  Stobo,  a  Scotch- 
man, who  settled  in  Charleston  in  the  year  1700. 
The  latter  clergyman  was  a  member  of  the  ill- 
fated  Scotch  colony,  established  on  the  Isthmus  of 
Darien  in  1698-1699,  and  which  owing  to  French 
and  Spanish  opposition  continued  only  one  year. 
This  colony  had  connected  with  it  the  first 
regular  Presbytery  estabhshed  on  the  American 
continent,  that  of  Caledonia.  A  Presbytery  in 
connection  with  the  Kirk  of  Scotland  was  es- 
tablished in  South  Carolina,  somewhere  about 
1720,  but  this  judicatory  did  not  come  into  con- 
nection with  the  General  Assembly  until  1811. 

FRENCH  AND  WELSH  CHURCHES 

Churches  of  French  Protestants — commonly 
called  Huguenot  churches — distfflfctively  Presby- 
terian both  in  faith  and  in  polity,  were  also  es- 
tablished in  the  colonies  at  an  early  date  and  at 
several  points:  at  New  York  in  1683,  on  Staten 
Island  in  1685,  at  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  in 
1686,  at  Boston  in  1687,  at  New  Rochelle,  New 
York,  in  1688.  These  churches  originated  in  the 
expulsion  of  Protestants  from  France,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  revocation  in  1685  of  the  edict  of 
toleration  known  as  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  The 
[14  1 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

Huguenot  churches,  with  one  exception,  have 
ceased  to  exist.  The  oldest  Welsh  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  colonies  was  that  in  the  Great 
Valley,  Chester  County,  Pennsylvania,  founded, 
it  is  claimed,  about  1685,  which  had  as  its 
ruling  elder  Mr.  David  Evan.  This  church 
became  a  part  of  the  General  Presbytery  in  1710. 

THE  SCOTCH-IRISH 

The   religious   necessities   of  the   Presbyterian  |  mjC^ 
colonists  led  them  to  make  application  time  and!  %, 
again  to  their  friends  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  j      ^ 
for  a  supply  of  ministers.     In  1680  the  Presbytery 
of  Laggan,  Ireland,  already  referred  to,  received  a 
letter  from  Colonel  William  Stevens,  a  member  of 

e  council  of  the  province  of  Maryland,  entreat- 
that  ministers  bjpH|flk^hs^||^ny  and  to 
Virginia.  ii[^^|^mi^|pHRPflHUft|uest^  ^ 
Rev.  Francis  M^BBP;  a  native  of^Ripi^m^^HMH 
Ireland,  came  to  Maryland  in  1683.  Mr.  IVSHW^^ 
niie's  landing  marked  a  new  era  in  the  develop- 
ment of  American  Presbyterianism.  At  the  time 
of  his  advent  isolated  Presbyterian  ministers,  and 
churches  in  large  part  dependent  upon  an  itinerant 
ministry,  were  scattered  from  New  England  to  the 
CaroHnas.  He  personally  organized  churches  at 
Snow  Hill  and  Rehoboth,  Maryland,  in  1683. 
Further,  within  a  few  years  after  his  arrival,  owing 
to  prelatical  persecution,  a  stream  of  immigration 
set  in  from  Scotland  and  the  North  of  Ireland, 
[15] 


A   CONCISE   HISTORY   OF 

which  largely  swelled  the  Presbyterian  popula- 
tion in  the  middle  and  southern  colonies.  This 
movement  was  of  great  and  permanent  value  to 
the  Presbyterian  Church.  It  has  continued 
for  two  hundred  years  with  an  increasing  volume 
and  undiminished  influence.  The  larger  portion 
of  the  immigrants  settled  in  New  Jersey,  Eastern 
Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland  and  the 
valley  of  Virginia.  No  race  of  men  has  suffered 
or  dared  more  in  the  cause  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty,  than  that  whose  common  name  is  the 
Scotch-Irish.  Like  the  Puritans,  they  sought 
in  the  colonies  liberty  to  worship  God  free 
from  the  tyranny  of  narrow-minded  prelates, 
and  like  the  Presbyterian  Puritans  they  were 
animated  by  high  and  noble  aims,  a  sincere 
sympathy  with  intellectual  culture  and  a  deeply- 
religious  spirit.  Independents  in  New  England, 
and  Episcopalians  in  the  middle  colonies,  did  deny 
to  others  the  freedom  they  claimed  for  themselves ; 

I  .  Presbyterians,     however^  whether     of     I^ritish, 

I  Scotch-Irish  or  continental  origin,  never  assailed 

^1  the  rights^of  their  fellow  men.     Holding  strenu- 

\\j|^.l  ously  to  the  truth  that  "God  alone  is  Lord  of  the 
conscience,"  they  practiced  the  doctrine  they 
professed.  And  none  have  been  more  persistent 
in  maintaining  true  liberty  in  Church  and  in 
State,  none  have  been  more  thoroughly  Pres- 
byterian in  doctrine  and  in  practice,  than  the  men 
of  that  race  whose  traditions  cluster  about  the 
fl6l 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

siege  of  Londonderry  and  the  conventieles  of  the 
Covenanters.  To  them  American  Presbyterian- 
ism  is  largely  indebted  for  its  vigor,  tenacity  and 
prosperity. 

NEW  YORK 

The  first  English  Presbyterian  minister  who 
preached  in  the  city  of  New  York  appears  to  have 
been  Rev.  Francis  Doughty,  already  referred  to, 
who  in  1643  held  services  in  the  Reformed  Dutch 
church  founded  in  1623  and  located  within  the 
fort.  He  remained  in  New  York  until  1648, 
removing  to  Flushing  about  1649,  and  about 
1658  to  Maryland,  where  his  brother-in-law, 
WilHam  Stone,  was  deputy  governor.  After  his 
departure  from  New  York,  English  services,  when 
held,  were  conducted  until  1652  by  Rev.  Richard 
Denton,  of  Hempstead.  It  was  for  the  so- 
called  crime  of  preaching  the  gospel  to  the  Pres- 
byterians of  the  city,  that  Rev.  Francis  Makemie 
was  tried  and  imprisoned  in  1707  by  the  Epis.- 
copal  governor.  Lord  Cornbury.  A  Presby- 
terian church  was  not  organized  in  New  York 
City  until  1717,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note  in 
connection  with  the  event  that  the  General 
Synod  in  1719  ordered  one  tenth  of  a  missionary  f  dU^j 
collection  taken  up  by  the  Synod  of  Glasgow  and!  ''iS^' 
Ayr,  Scotland,  to  be  g^iven  to  the  Presbyterian!  ^^*** 
congregation  of  New  York  for  "the  support  of  the  ^  ^^"^^^ 
gospel  among  them."  The  large  contributions 
[17] 


A  CONCISE   HISTORY   OF 

now  made  in  the  city  of  New  York,  for  both  home 
and  foreign  mission  purposes,  are  evidence  of 
the  value  of  investments  made  in  accordance  with 
the  Scriptural  advice,  "He  that  hath  pity  upon  the 
poor  lendeth  unto  the  Lord;  and  that  which  he 
hath  given  w^ill  he  pay  him  again." 

PHILADELPHIA 

The  first  Presbyterian  congregation  in  Phila- 
delphia met  in  1692  in  the  *'Barbadoes  Company 
Warehouse."  In  1698  Rev.  Jedidiah  Andrews, 
a  graduate  of  Harvard  College,  began  his  minis- 
trations in  the  city.  In  the  year  1701,  Mr. 
Andrews  was  ordained  and  installed  pastor  of 
what  is  now  the  First  Church.  An  Episcopalian 
writer  in  1703,  commenting  on  the  prospects  of 
Presbyterianism  in  Philadelphia,  wrote,  "  They 
have  here  a  Presbyterian  meeting  and  minister, 
one  called  Andrews;  but  they  are  not  like  to 
increase  here."  As  Philadelphia  Presbyterianism 
in  1703,  with  its  one  weak  congregation,  is  com- 
pared with  Philadelphia  Presbyterianism  in  1916, 
with  its  more  than  one  hundred  churches,  the 
exclamation  springs  naturally  to  the  lips,  "What 
hath  God  wrought!" 


T81 


II 

THE  FIRST  PRESBYTERY  AND  SYNOD, 
1706-1743 


THE  FIRST  PRESBYTERY 

Increase  in  population,  joined  with  greater 
facilities  for  intercommunication,  made  it  both 
desirable  and  possible  to  give  colonial  Presby- 
terianism  an  organized  form.  In  the  movement 
for  this  result  Makemie  was  the  master  spirit: 
he  filled,  in  fact,  the  office  of  an  apostle.  His 
journeys  extended  from  South  Carolina  to  Massa- 
chusetts, and  he  sought  assistance  both  in  Great 
Britain  and  in  New  England.  Indefatigable  in 
labor,  he  suffered  persecution  and  dared  imprison- 
ment in  behalf  of  the  cause  he  had  so  heartily 
espoused,  and  finally  secured  the  organization  of 
the  first  American  Presbytery,  it  is  believed,  in 
March,  1706.  For  some  time  it  was  held  that  the 
year  of  organization  was  1705,  but  that  view  was 
taken  ow^ng  to  the  fact  that  at  the  beginning 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  legal  year  began  on 
March  25,  but  a  change  was  made  in  all  English 
lands  to  January  1  as  New  Year's  Day,  in  1752. 
March  1705  of  the  eighteenth  century,  therefore, 
was  by  our  calendar,  March,  1706.  To  make  the 
matter  yet  clearer,  December  the  twelfth  month 
of  the  present  year  is  the  tenth  (decem)  month  of 

[19] 


A  CONCISE  HISTORY  OF 

the  old  legal  year.  The  exact  day  cannot  be 
determined,  owing  to  the  loss  of  the  first  page  of 
the  records.  The  ministers  constituting  the 
body  were  Francis  Makemie,  of  Accomac  County, 
Virginia;  Jedidiah  Andrews,  of  Philadelphia; 
JohnWilson,  of  New  Castle,  Delaware;  Samuel 
Davis,  of  Lewes,  Delaware;  Nathaniel  Taylor,  of 
Marlborough,  Maryland :  John  Hampton,  of  Snow 
Hill,  Maryland;  and  George  MacNish.  from  the 
same  colony.  The  first  meeting  of  the  Presbytery 
of  which  record  remains  was  held  at  Freehold, 
New  Jersey,  December  29,  1706,  and  the  business 
engaged  in  was  the  examination,  with  a  view  to 
ordination,  of  a  Mr.  John  Boyd.  At  the  meeting 
held  at  Philadelphia,  March  22,  1707,  the  names 
of  the  following  ruling  elders  appear  in  the 
minutes:  "Joseph  Yard,  William  Smith,  John 
Gardiner*,  James  Stoddard."  It  is  proper  here 
to  state  that  this  first  Presbytery  never  calls  itself 
by  a  local  name,  and  that  its  true  appellation  is 
therefore  judged  to  be  *'the  General  Presbytery." 
It  has  been  held  in  some  quarters  that  the  first 
Presbytery  was  simply  an  association  of  ministers 
for  purposes  of  fellowship  and  counsel.  This  is 
not  the  fact.  Ruling  elders  were  present,  repre- 
senting the  churches,  in  all  the  meetings,  ecclesi- 
astical acts  were  adopted  appropriate  only  to  a 
Presbytery,  and  in  1712,  in  connection  with  the 
case  of  Rev.  Mr.  Wade,  minister  at  Wood- 
bridge,  the  record  reads,  "we  admitted  him  as  a 
[20  1 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

member  of  our  Presbytery,  and  lie  submitted  him- 
self wilKngly  to  our  Constitution."  The  Presby- 
tery was  "in  the  exercise  of  Presbyterian  govern- 
ment.'* 

THE  GENERAL  SYNOD  ORGANIZED 

It  will  be  noticed  that  Presbyterian  ministers 
from  the  vicinity  of  New  York  or  from  the  Caro- 
linas  were  not  present  in  the  General  Presbytery 
at  its  ear  her  meetings;  ministers  and  churches 
from  those  sections  of  the  country  came  into  rela- 
tion to  organized  Presbyterianism  at  later  dates. 
The  first  of  such  churches  to  come  under  the  care 
of  Presbytery  were  the  English  churches  on  Long 
Island,  and  these  were  followed  by  the  Welsh 
churches  in  the  neighborhood  of  Philadelphia. 
By  the  year  1716,  the  Church  had  increased  to 
such  an  extent  that  it  was  deemed  advisable  to 
constitute  a  Synod,  and  organize  four  Presbyteries, 
viz.,  Philadelphia,  New  Castle,  Snow  Hill,  and 
Long  Island.  The  Synod  met  for  the  first  time 
at  Philadelphia,  September  17,  1717,  the  modera- 
tor at  the  opening  session  being  Rev.  George 
MacNish,  of  Jamaica,  Long  Island,  and  the 
moderator  elected  being  Rev.  Jedidiah  Andrews, 
of  Philadelphia.  The  Church  then  consisted  of 
nineteen  ministers,  about  forty  churches  and  some 
three  thousand  communicants.  One  of  the 
principal  acts  of  the  Synod  was  the  establishment 
in  1717  of  a  fund  for  pious  uses  to  be  disposed  of 

[21] 


A   CONCISE    HISTORY   OF 

according  to  the  discretion  of  the  Synod.  This 
act  was  the  initiative  movement  in  connection 
with  all  the  benevolent  and  missionary  work  of  the 
Church. 

THE  SYNOD  OF  NEW  ENGLAND 

The  year  of  the  estabhshment  of  the  General 
Synod  and  the  follomng  years,  were  years  of  con- 
siderable immigration  into  the  colonies  from  the 
North  of  Ireland,  in  part  owing  to  persecution 
and  in  part  to  oppression  by  landlords.  A  portion 
of  the  immigrants  settled  in  New  England,  and 
churches  composed  of  them  were  established  at 
Londonderry,  New  Hampshire;  Worcester,  Massa- 
chusetts; Casco  Bay,  Maine,  and  other  places. 
In  1745  the  Presbytery  of  Londonderry  was  or- 
ganized, and  iji  1775  the  Synod  of  New  England 
wag^  erected,  composed  of  the  Presbyteries  of 
Londonderry,  Salem  and  Palmer.  This  Synod, 
however,  owing  to  the  isolation  and  feebleness  of 
the  churches,  was  dissolved  in  1782,  and  its 
niinisters  and  churches  were  formed  into  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Salern — a  name  changed  in  1793  to 
Londonderry.  This  latter  Presbytery  did  not 
come  under  the  care  of  the  General  Assembly  until 
1809,  and  was  made  a  part  of  the  Synod  of  Albany. 
The  Presbyterians  of  New  England  for  many 
years  were  left  to  themselves,  but  during  this 
century  have  been  organized  (1912)  into  a  Synod, 
which  has  been  greatly  prospered. 
[22] 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 
THE  ADOPTING  ACT,  1729 

In  1729  the  General  Synod  passed  what  is  called 
the  Adopting  Act,  by  which  it  was  agreed  *'that 
all  the  ministers  of  this  Synod,  or  that  shall  here- 
after be  admitted  into  this  Synod,  shall  declare 
their  agreement  in  and  approbation  of  the  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  with  the  Larger  and  Shorter 
Catechisms  of  the  Assembly  of  Divines  at  West- 
minster," and  "also  adopt  the  said  Confession  as 
the  confession  of  our  faith."  From  this  year  for- 
ward this  solemn  declaration  on  the  part  of  its 
ministers  has  been  required  by  the  Church,  with 
the  understanding  that  scruples  with  respect  to 
any  article  or  articles  of  said  Confession  or 
Catechisms,  shall  be  made  known  to  the  judica- 
tory into  whose  membership  ministers  desire  to 
enter,  and  their  accordance  with  essential  faith 
shall  be  judged,  not  by  the  applicants  for  admis- 
sion, but  by  the  judicatory.  In  this  connection, 
it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  Synod  in  1721 
said  that  "we  have  been  many  years  in  the  exer- 
cise of  Presbyterian  government  and  discipline 
as  exercised  by  the  Presbyterians  in  the  best 
Reformed  Churches."  The  Adopting  Act  of 
1729  was  therefore  a  formal  adoption  of  the  West- 
minster Standards  alike  of  doctrine,  polity  and 
worship  as  the  definite  law  of  the  Church.  By 
this  iVct  the  American  Church  became  a  "Con- 
fessional Church,"  a  church  holding  to  a  definite 
system  of  doctrine. 

[231 


^ 


A  CONCISE  HISTORY  OF 
THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  THE  CHURCH 

The  General  Synod  in  the  same  year  took 
action  in  the  Hne  of  the  denial  of  the  authority 
of  the  State  over  the  Church,  Chapter  xxiii  of 
the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  deals  with 
the  power  of  the  civil  magistrate,  and  the  Synod 
denied  to  the  civil  magistrate  what  the  West- 
minster Assembly  permitted — a  controlling  power 
over  Synods  with  respect  to  "the  exercise  of  their 
ministerial  authority."  It  also  denied  to  the 
civil  magistrate  the  "power  to  persecute  any  for 
their  religion."  These  were  notable  acts  on  the 
part  of  the  Synod,  appearing  to  be  the  first 
declaration,  by  an  organized  Church  on  American 
soil,  of  the  freedom  of  the  Church  from  control 
by  the  State.  Even  in  New  England  at  this  time 
Church  and  State  were  united.  Congregational- 
ism, as  first  established  in  the  colonies,  was  a  chain 
whose  links  were  steel.  An  organization  of  so- 
called  independent  churches,  its  ministers  were 
held  to  orthodoxy  and  its  members  to  right  living, 
by  the  strong  arm  of  the  civil  law.  It  was  the 
civil  magistrate,  at  the  call  of  the  Church,  who 
drove  out  from  Massachusetts  Williams  the 
Baptist,  and  Doughty  the  Presbyterian.  The 
Congregational  was  the  established  church  in 
Connecticut  until  1818,  and  in  Massachusetts 
until  1834,  and  even  to-day  in  three  New  England 
states  there  are  legal  provisions  for  the  support 
of  Congregational  Churches  by  taxation.  Tg 
[24] 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

the  Presbyterian  must  the  honor  be  given  of  the 
first  definite  statement,  by  an  organized  bod^  on 
American  soil,  of  what  to-day  is  recognized  as 
the  distinctively  American  and  true  doctrine,  of, 
the  right  relation  between  Church  and  State  "a 
free  Church  in  a  free  State." 


[25] 


Ill 

DIVISION  AND  GROWTH,  1745-1775 


THE  OLD  AND  NEW  SIDE 

The  first  division  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
took  place  in  1745.  The  occasions,  strange  as  it 
may  seem,  were  the  spiritual  destitutions  prev- 
alent in  the  colonies,  and  the  revival  of  religion 
which,  beginning  in  New  England,  in  part  under 
Jonathan  Edwards,  in  1734,  extended  to  the 
Middle  Colonies,  and  was  intensified  by  the  preach- 
ing of  the  celebrated  evangelist,  Rev.  George 
Whitefield.  The  Synod  did  not  divide,  as  some 
writers  hold,  according  to  lines  of  nationality. 
The  parties  to  the  division  were  known  as  "Old 
Side"  and  "New  Side,"  but  the  former  were 
not  solely  Scotch  and  Irish,  nor  the  latter  English 
and  Welsh.  The  leaders  of  the  "New  Side"  were 
William  and  Gilbert  Tennent,  ministers  born  in 
Ireland,  and  foremost  among  the  "Old  Side" 
party  was  Jedidiah  Andrews,  a  New  England 
man  and  pastor  of  the  First  Church,  Philadelphia. 
Further,  Yale  and  Harvard  Colleges  championed 
the  "Old  Side."  The  strife  arose  first  in  connec- 
tion with  the  standard  of  ministerial  qualifications. 
William  Tennent  had  established  the  first  Pres- 
byterian theological  school  in  this  land  at  Ne- 
shaminy,  Pennsylvania,  in  1726 — an  institution 
[26] 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

commonly  called  the  *'Log  College."  By  1737  he 
had  prepared  seven  or  eight  persons  for  the 
ministry.  Objections  were  made  to  the  examina- 
tion and  ordination  of  these  students,  by  some 
members  of  the  Synod,  on  the  ground  that  the 
course  of  study  which  they  had  pursued  was  not 
adequate  to  the  requirements  of  the  ministry. 
The  Presbytery  of  New  Brunswick  sided  with  the 
Tennents,  and  while  the  controversy  was  in 
progress  Whitefield  came  upon  the  ground,  revivals 
of  religion  broke  out  anew,  and  as  a  result  a  still 
greater  need  for  ministers  was  created.  Tennent 
and  those  who  sided  mth  him  entered  earnestly 
into  revival  work,  and  to*  their  methods,  as  well 
as  to  the  qualifications  of  the  "Log  College" 
ministers,  objections  were  made.  The  *'New 
Side,"  however,  was  by  no  means  blameless  in 
conduct,  for  its  members  committed  many  acts, 
and  published  pamphlets,  against  their  opponents 
of  a  character  not  warranted  by  Christian  charity. 
Dr.  Charles  Hodge  states  that  the  brethren  of  the 
New  Brunswick  Presbytery  were  the  aggressors 
in  the  controversy,  but  on  the  other  hand  the 
"Old  Side"  resorted  to  violent  measures  for  redress 
which  widened  the  breach  between  them  and  their 
adversaries.  After  repeated  efforts  for  reconciha- 
tion  had  failed,  the  Presbytery  of  New  Bruns- 
wick in  1741  withdrew  from  the  Synod,  and  in 
1745,  with  the  Presbytery  of  New  York  and  cer- 
tain ministers  of  the  Presbytery  of  New  Castle, 
[27] 


A   CONCISE  HISTORY  OF 

formed  the  Synod  of  New  York.  It  is  here  to  be 
noted  that  the  terms  "Old  Side"  and  "New 
Side,"  designating  the  parties  to  this  early- 
division  of  the  Church,  are  not  in  any  manner 
equivalent  to  the  terms  "Old  School"  and  "New 
School,"  in  use  a  century  later. 

THE  FIRST  COLLEGE 

One  good  result  from  the  controversy  respecting 
ministerial  qualifications,  carried  on  by  the 
"Old  Side"  and  the  "New  Side,"  was  the  impetus 
given  to  the  cause  of  ministerial  education.  The 
former  party  established  in  1744  an  academy. 
The  "New  Side"  established  the  institution  now 
knowTi  as  Princeton  College,  which  has  exerted  a 
widespread  and  beneficial  molding  influence  on 
American  Presbyterianism.  The  charter  of  this 
college  was  granted  in  1740;  its  first  title  was 
"The  College  of  New  Jersey,"  and  its  first  presi- 
dent was  Rev.  Jonathan  Dickinson.  Located 
first  at  EHzabethtown,  New  Jersey,  it  was  after- 
ward removed  to  Newark,  and  again  in  the 
autumn  of  1755  to  the  town  where  it  is  now 
established.  Princeton  College,  now  Princeton 
University,  it  should  be  distinctly  remembered, 
was  founded  for  the  purpose  of  securing  to  the 
Presbyterian  Church  an  educated  ministry.  It 
was  the  first  of  the  institutions  to  make  clear  the 
fact  that  the  Presbyterian  is  "a  college-building^ 
not  a  cathedral-building  Church." 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 
THE  STANDARDS  THE  BASIS  OF  UNION,  1758 

The  two  bodies  into  which  the  General  Synod 
had  been  divided  in  1745,  viz.,  the  Synod  of 
Philadelphia  and  the  Synod  of  New  York, 
were  reunited  in  1758  on  the  basis  of  the  reception 
of  the  Westminster  Confession  as  their  Confession 
of  Faith,  and  also  of  adherence  to  the  Forms  of 
Worship  and  Discipline  contained  in  the  West- 
minster Directory.  The  terms  of  union  also 
specified  that  candidates  for  the  ministry  should 
give  to  the  Presbytery  hcensing  them,  competent 
satisfaction  as  to  their  learning.  At  the  time  of 
reunion  the  Church  consisted  of  ninety-eight 
ministers,  about  two  hundred  congregations, 
many  preaching  stations,  and  some  ten  thousand 
communicants. 

THE  MISSIONARY  ADVANCE 

During  the  period  of  the  division,  just  referred 
to,  the  famous  and  typical  mission  Presbytery  of 
Hanover  was  organized  (1755)  by  the  Synod  of 
New  York.  Finding  a  center  in  Hanover  County, 
Virginia,  this  Presbytery  extended  from  Western 
Pennsylvania  to  Georgia.  Within  its  bounds, 
prior  to  its  organization,  labored  for  years,  at 
times  in  loneliness,  that  ideal  minister  and  mis- 
sionary, Rev.  Samuel  Davies,  afterwards  presi- 
dent of  Princeton  College.  Born  of  Welsh 
parents  in  the  colony  of  Delaware,  he  was,  next 
to  Whitefield,  the  most  eloquent  preacher  of  his 


A   CONCISE  HISTORY   OF 

age,  and  was  also  at  once  the  champion  of  freedom, 
the  founder  of  churches  and  the  friend  of  learning. 
The  limits  of  his  own  parish  were  distant  from 
each  other  nearly  a  hundred  miles,  but  his  zeal 
added  to  the  care  of  his  own  numerous  churches, 
earnest  efforts  in  Virginia,  New  England  and 
Great  Britain  for  the  advancement  of  the  interests 
of  religion  in  all  the  colonies.  The  impulse 
given  by  this  untiring  preacher  of  the  Word  and 
by  his  colaborers  to  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
the  South  and  West,  as  well  as  in  the  Middle 
Colonies,  cannot  be  overestimated. 

ADVANTAGES  OF  THE  DIVISION 

The  division  of  1745  was  not  an  unmixed  evil; 
its  influence  in  some  directions  was  undeniably 
unfortunate,  but  nevertheless  the  wrath  of  man 
was  overruled  of  God.  The  principles  of  the 
Church  were  more  clearly  defined,  the  duty  of 
charity  was  enforced,  the  value  of  revivals  of 
religion  was  emphasized,  the  cause  of  ministerial 
education  was  greatly  stimulated,  and  union  led 
naturally  to  resolute  and  energetic  action  in 
church  extension.  The  period  extending  from 
the  year  1758,  the  date  of  reunion,  to  the  year 
1775,  was  one  of  enlarged  activity.  The  Presby- 
tery of  Dutchess  County  was  organized  (1763), 
and  the  Presbytery  of  Orange,  North  Carolina, 
(1770);  the  number  of  ministers  was  nearly 
doubled:  John  Withe rspoon  was  inaugurated 
[30] 


THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

(1768)  president  of  Princeton  College,  and  also 
professor  of  divinity;  a  general  missionary  col- 
lection was  ordered  (1767)  for  the  purpose  of 
maintaining  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  on  the 
frontier;  a  scheme  for  the  support  of  candidates 
for  the  ministry  was  approved  (1771),  and  a  com- 
mittee appointed  (1773)  to  supervise  the  distribu- 
tion of  religious  publications.  These  last  three 
acts  of  the  Synod  were  severally  the  germs  of  our 
Boards  of  Home  Missions,  Education,  and 
Publication. 


[SI] 


IV 

NATIONAL    INDEPENDENCE    AND    THE 
ADOPTION  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION, 

1776-1788 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY 

It  was  not  alone,  however,  in  matters  relating 
to  religion  that  the  Church  took  action  with  a 
view  to  the  best  interests  of  the  colonies.     Re- 
ligious liberty  at  this  period  was  endangered  by  a 
proposal  to  set  up  in  the  colonies  an  Episcopal 
establishment,   for  whose  support  so-called  dis- 
senters would  be  taxed,  and  under  which  they 
would  suffer  many  grievous  burdens.     To  prevent 
the  carrying  out  of  a  scheme  so  fraught  with 
peril  to  the  highest  welfare  of  American  Christians, 
the  Synod  entered  (1766)  into  a  plan  of  union  with 
the    General    Association    of    Connecticut,    one 
main  purpose  of  which  was  to  protect  the  rights 
^of  the  churches.     In  fact,  one  of  the  most  power- 
_ful   influences   in   bringing   on   and   carrying   to 
^successful  termination  the  American  Revolution, 
was   the  invincible  opposition   of  Presbyterians 
^and  Congregationalists  to  this  threatened  Epis- 
^ copal  attack  upon  the  inalienable  rights  of  con- 
^  science.     The  influence  of  religious  forces  upon 
human  affairs  is  too  often  overlooked  by  secular 
historians. 

[32] 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

THE  CHURCH  AND  AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE 

The  opening  of  the  Revolutionary  struggle 
found  the  Presbyterian  ministers  and  churches 
to  a  man  on  the  side  of  the  colonies.  In  1775  the 
General  Synod  issued  a  pastoral  letter,  an  extract 
from  which  indicates  the  spirit  prevailing  in 
the  Church,  and  reads:  "Be  careful  to  maintain 
the  union  which  at  present  subsists  through  all  the 
colonies.  In  particular,  as  the  Continental  Con- 
gress, now  sitting  at  Philadelphia,  consists  of 
delegates  chosen  in  the  most  free  and  unbiased 
manner  by  the  body  of  the  people,  let  them  not 
only  be  treated  with  respect  and  encouraged  in 
their  difficult  service,  not  only  let  your  prayers  be 
offered  up  to  God  for  his  direction  in  their  pro- 
ceedings, but  adhere  firmly  to  their  resolutions 
and  let  it  be  seen  that  they  are  able  to  bring  out 
the  whole  strength  of  this  vast  country  to  carry 
them  into  execution."  Contemporary  with  this 
letter  of  the  Synod  was  the  famous  Mecklenburgh 
Declaration  of  Independence,  renouncing  all- 
allegiance  to  Great  Britain,  passed  by  a  conven- 
tion in  Western  North  Carolina  composed  of- 
delegates  who  were  mostly  Presbyterians,  thus 
forestalling  the  action  of  the  Colonial  Congress  in 
the  same  line  by  more  than  a  year.  Further,  in 
the  sessions  of  the  Congress,  the  influence  of  no 
delegate  exceeded  that  wielded  by  Rev.  John 
Witherspoon,  president  of  Princeton  College,  the 
only  clerical  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
[331 


A   CONCISE  HISTORY   OF 

pendence — "a  man  Scotch  in  accent  and  strength 
of  conviction,  but  American  at  heart."  The 
American  Presbyterian  Church  never  faltered  in 
her  devotion  to  the  cause  of  the  independence  of 
these  United  States;  her  ministers  and  members 
periled  all  for  its  support,  being  ready,  with 
Witherspoon,  to  go  to  the  block,  if  need  be,  in 
defense  of  civil  and  religious  liberty. 

THE  ADOPTION  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION 

With  the  restoration  of  peace,   in   1783,   the 
Church     gradually     recovered     from     the     evils 
wrought  by  war,  and  the  need  of  a  fuller  organiza- 
tion was  deeply  felt.     The  independence  of  the 
United  States  had  created  new  conditions  for  the 
Christian  Churches  as  well  as  for  the  American 
,  people.     Presbyterians    were    no    longer    merely 
''  tolerated  in  certain  parts  of  the  country,  but  were 
•  equally  entitled  with  Episcopalians  and  Congre- 
.  gationalists,  in  all  the  states,  to  full  religious  and 
.  civil  rights.     In  1785  the  General  Synod,  there- 
fore, appointed  a  committee  to  draw  up  a  Plan 
of  government  and  discipline.     This  committee 
presented  a  final  report  in  1787,  which  was  sent 
down  to  the  Presbyteries  and  churches  for  their 
consideration,  but  not  for  adoption  or  approval. 
'  On  the  28th  of  May,   1788,  the  Synod,  having 
,   previously  amended  this  plan,  formally  adopted 
,  it  as  the  Constitution  of  the  Church.     On  the 
same    day    it    ordered    that    the    Confession    of 
[341 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

Faith,  amended  the  day  previous,  should  be  a 
part  of  the  Constitution,  and  on  the  day  following 
it  also  ordered  that  the  Westminster  Larger  and 
Shorter  Catechisms  and  the  Directory  for  Wor- 
ship should  be  parts  of  the  same  instrument. 
The  Confession  of  Faith  is  substantially  that  of 
the  Westminster  Assembly,  the  only  alteration 
of  note  in  it  being  in  Chapter  xxiii,  which  deals 
with  the  civil  magistrate.  Instead  of  giving  to 
the  magistrate,  as  is  done  in  the  original  West- 
minster Confession,  power  to  control  and  super- 
vise Synods,  the  General  Synod  declared  it  to 
be  the  duty  of  civil  magistrates  '*to  protect  the 
Church  of  our  common  Lord,  without  giving  the 
preference  to  any  denomination  of  Christians 
above  the  rest,  in  such  a  manner  that  all  ecclesi- 
astical persons  whatever  shall  enjoy  the  full,  free 
and  unquestioned  liberty  of  discharging  every 
part  of  their  sacred  functions  without  violence 
or  danger."  The  Catechisms  were  adopted  with 
one  amendment — namely,  the  striking  out  in  the 
Larger  Catechism,  from  the  catalogue  of  sins 
enumerated  as  forbidden  by  the  second  command- 
ment, the  sin  of  "tolerating  a  false  religion." 
The  divergences  from  the  original  Westminster 
standards  in  the  governmental  portions  of  the 
Constitution  were  numerous,  and  the  Directory 
for  Worship  is  largely  a  new  work.  In  the  text 
of  the  latter,  as  proposed  in  1787,  forms  of  prayer 
were  introduced,  but  the  Synod  declined  to  ap- 
[351 


A   CONCISE  HISTORY  OF 

prove  of  anything  approaching  the  character  of  a 
Hturgy.  Worthy  of  notice  is  it  in  connection 
with  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  that  the 
changes  were  all  made  in  the  direction  of  liberty — 
of  liberty  of  worship,  of  freedom  in  prayer,  and, 
above  all,  of  the  liberty  of  the  Church  from  smy 
control  by  the  State.  From  its  first  establish- 
ment, the  Presbyterian  Church  has  been  a  fore- 
most advocate  of  liberty  alike  in  things  civil  and 
religious.  And  in  1788  it  became  a  Church  with 
,  a  Constitution  adapted  to  the  needs  of  a  new,  a 
growing,  and  a  great  nation. 

THE  DOCTIIINAL  SYSTEM 

The  adoption  of  the  Constitution  in  1788  leads 
naturally  to  the  statement  of  the  fact  that  the 
Churches  holding  to  the  Presbyterian  system  have 
•  developed  in  the  course  of  their  history  such  a 
natural  relation  to  one  great  type  of  Christian 
'»  doctrine  that  the  words  Calvinistic  and  Presby- 
.  terian  are  to  a  large  extent  synonymous.     The 
controlling  idea  of  the  Presbyterian  or  Calvinistic 
system  of  thought,  both  theoretically  and  practi- 
'  cally,  is  the  doctrine  of  the  unconditioned  sover- 
\eignty   of   God.     By   this   sovereignty   is   meant 
the  absolute  control  of  the  universe  in  all  that  it 
contains,  whether  visible  or  invisible  things,  by 
the  one  supreme,  eternal,  omniscient,  omnipres- 
ent and  omnipotent  Spirit,  for  wise,  just,  holy  and 
Moving  ends,  known  fully  alone  to  himself.     This 
[36] 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

divine  sovereignty  finds  practical  expression  in 
the  Presbyterian  system  through  its  organizing 
principle,  the  sovereignty  of  the  Word  of  God  as 
the  supreme  and  infallible  rule  of  faith  and 
practice.  The  Presbyterian  system  accepts  and' 
incorporates,  as  of  perpetual  binding  obligation, 
only  those  principles  and  regulations  which  can 
be  proved  to  have  a  divine  warrant.  This 
obligation  applies  to  doctrine,  government  and 
worship,  and  this  obhgation  the  Presbyterian 
Church  reaffirmed  in  1788. 

THE  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT 

The  supremacy  of  God's  Word  over  human 
thought  and  conduct,  is  the  reason  why  Presby- 
terians claim  that  their  Church  government  as 
expressed  in  the  Standards  of  1788,  finds  clear 
warrant  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  One  of  its  chief 
sources,  it  is  asserted,  was  the  Jewish  ecclesiastical 
system  of  the  time  of  Christ.  The  elders  of  the 
synagogue  became  the  elders  of  the  Christian 
congregation;  the  chief  ruler  of  the  synagogue 
was  reproduced  in  the  episcopos  or  parochial 
bishop;  the  local  sanhedrin  was  modified  and 
estabhshed  as  the  Presbytery;  and  the  Great 
Sanhedrin  was  the  prototype  of  synods,  general 
assembhes,  and  councils.  The  principles  of  New 
Testament  church  government  further  led  to 
definite  statement  of  the  views  taken  of  the 
Church,  her  officers  and  judicatories  as  follows: 
[371 


A   CONCISE  HISTORY   OF 

the  universal  Church  consists  of  all  persons  who 
profess  the  true  religion,  together  with  their 
children;  the  power  of  the  Church  is  simply 
declarative  and  spiritual;  there  is  but  one  order 
in  the  Christian  ministry;  ruling  elders,  elected 
by  the  congregations,  are  to  be  united  with 
ministers  in  the  government  of  the  churches; 
and  the  temporal  affairs  are  to  be  managed  by 
deacons  or  trustees.  The  judicatories  or  church 
courts  established  in  successive  order  are  (1) 
the  Session,  governing  the  particular  church,  and 
consisting  of  the  pastor  and  the  ruhng  elders: 
(2)  the  Presbytery,  governing  all  the  congrega- 
tions within  a  limited  territory,  and  consisting 
of  all  the  ministers  therein  and  one  elder  from 
each  Church;  (3)  the  Synod,  consisting  of  at  least 
three  Presbyteries,  exercising  supervisory  author- 
ity over  both  Presbyteries  and  congregations,  and 
consisting  of  both  ministers  and  elders,  and  (4) 
the  General  Assembly,  having  supervisory  power 
over  the  general  interests  of  the  whole  denomina- 
tion, and  constituting  the  bond  of  union,  peace, 
correspondence  and  confidence.  The  power  of 
these  church  courts  is  both  legislative,  executive 
and  judicial,  and  the  higher  courts  are  given 
authority  over  the  lower  courts,  as  set  forth 
definitely  in  the  Constitution  of  the  Church. 
They  all  emphasize  that  Presbyterian  govern- 
ment is  not  by  single  men,  such  as  diocesan 
bishops,  but  by  representative  assemblies. 


THE    PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 
TERMS  OF  MEMBERSHIP 

On  the  important  matter  of  church  member-  ' 
ship,  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  1788  and  since,  » 
has  made  clear  that  the  terms  of  admission  of 
members  into  the  visible  Church  are  the  same  as 
the  conditions  of  salvation  revealed  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  viz.:  belief  on  the  part  of  the  applicant 
in  one  God,  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit,  and  - 
faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  the  divine  and  ' 
all-sufficient  Saviour,  joined  with  the  declaration  '^ 
of  a  sincere  purpose  to  lead  a  life  acceptable  to  ' 
God  in  Jesus  Christ.     No  church,  it  is  claimed, , 
has  a  right  either  to  add  to  or  take  from  these 
terms    or    conditions.     Church    members    as    to 
their  conduct  are  under  the  control  of  the  Session 
of  the  particular  church,  providing,  however,  that 
every  member  deeming  himself  aggrieved  may 
appeal  or  complain  to  a  higher  court. 

THE  WORSHIP  APPROVED 

Presbyterian    worship    as    reaffirmed    in    the 
Directory  of  Worship  in  1788,  is  based  as  to  its 
character  on  the  facts  that  a  human  priesthood  is 
unknown  to  the  New  Testament,  and  that  the  * 
only  priest  of  the  new  dispensation  is  the  Lord  7 
Jesus    Christ.     Ministers    are    not    priests,    but  , 
preachers.     Sacerdotalism,  therefore,  whether  in* 
connection    with    the    sacraments,    or    enforced 
liturgies,  or  priestly  vestments,  has  no  place  in  the 
worship    of    the    Presbyterian    churches.     The  . 
[39] 


A    COIs/ciSE   HISTORY   OF 

sacraments   are   simply   ordinances,   wherein   by 
sensible  signs  Christ  and  his  benefits  "are  repre- 

'  sented,  sealed,  and  applied  to  believers."  Prayer 
is  the  free  intercourse  of  the  soul  with  God,  and  is 

I  therefore  to  be  voluntary.  Ministers  are  not 
mediators  between  God  and  man,  possessed  of  a 
delegated  divine  authority  to  forgive  sins,  but 
simply  leaders  of  the  people  in  all  that  constitutes 
the  worship  of  and  fellowship  with  the  triune  God. 

'  True  worshipers  worship  the  Father  neither  in 
Samaria  nor  in  Jerusalem,  but  in  spirit  and  in 

'  truth.  God  is  nigh  to  every  penitent  and  believ- 
ing soul. 

By  its  doctrine  the  Presbyterian  Church  has 
always  honored  the  divine  sovereignty  without 
denying  human  responsibility;  by  its  polity  it 
has  exalted  the  headship  of  Christ  while  giving 
full  development  to  the  activities  of  the  Christian 
people;  and  in  its  worship  it  has  magnified  God, 
while  it  brings  blessing  to  man,  by  insisting  upon 
the  right  of  free  access  on  the  part  of  every  soul 
to  him  whose  grace  cannot  be  fettered  in  its 
ministrations  by  any  human  ordinances  whatso- 
ever. 

THE  CONTEMPORANEOUS  CONSTITUTIONS 

The  Constitution  of  the  Church  was  adopted 
in    the    same    year    in    which    the    Constitution 
of    the    United    States    was    framed.     The    in- 
fluence which  the  Presbyterian  Church  exercised 
[40] 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

for  the  securing  of  unity  between  the  colonies 
was  zealously  employed,  at  the  close  of  the 
war  for  independence,  to  bring  them  into  a 
closer  union.  The  main  hindrance  to  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Federal  Union,  as  it  now  exists,  lay  in 
the  reluctance  of  many  of  the  states  to  yield  to  a 
general  government  any  of  the  powers  which  they 
possessed.  The  federal  party  in  its  advocacy  of 
closer  union  had  no  more  earnest  and  eloquent 
supporters  than  John  Witherspoon,  Elias  Bou- 
dinot,  and  other  Presbyterian  members  of  the 
Continental  Congress.  Sanderson,  in  his  "Lives 
of  the  Signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence," states  that  "Witherspoon  strongly  com- 
bated the  opinion  expressed  in  Congress  that  a 
lasting  confederation  among  the  States  was 
impracticable,  and  he  warmly  maintained  the 
absolute  necessity  of  union  to  impart  vigor  and 
success  to  the  measures  of  government."  In  this 
he  was  aided  by  many  who  had  come  to  the  views 
which  he,  as  a  Presbyterian,  had  always  main- 
tained. Slowly  but  surely,  ideas  of  government 
in  harmony  with  those  of  the  Westminster 
Standards,  were  accepted  as  formative  principles 
for  the  government  of  the  United  States,  and  that 
by  many  persons  not  connected  with  the  Presby- 
terian Church.  Among  these  were  the  great 
leaders  in  the  Constitutional  Convention,  James 
Madison,  a  graduate  of  Princeton,  who  sat  as  a 
student  under  Witherspoon;  Alexander  Hamilton, 
[41] 


A   CONCISE  HISTORY   OF 

of  Scotch  parentage,  whose  famiharity  with 
Presbyterian  government  is  fully  attested;  and 
above  all  George  Washington,  who  though  an 
Episcopalian,  had  so  great  a  regard  for  the 
Presbyterian  Church  and  its  services  to  the 
country,  that  he  not  only  partook  of  Holy  Com- 
munion with  its  members,  but  gave  public  expres- 
sion to  his  high  esteem.  It  is  not  that  the  claim 
is  made  that  the  principles  of  Presbyterian 
government  were  the  sole  source  from  which 
sprang  the  government  of  the  Republic,  but  it  is 
asserted  that  mightiest  among  the  forces  which 
made  the  colonies  a  nation  were  the  govern- 
mental principles  found  in  the  Westminster 
Standards,  and  that  the  Presbyterian  Church 
taught,  practiced,  and  maintained  in  fullness,  first 
in  this  land,  that  form  of  government  in  accordance 
with  which  the  Republic  has  been  organized. 
The  historian  Bancroft  says,  "the  Revolution  of 
1776,  so  far  as  it  was  affected  by  religion,  was  a 
Presbyterian  measure.  It  was  the  natural  out- 
growth of  the  principles  which  the  Presbyterian- 
ism  of  the  Old  World  planted  in  her  sons,  the 
English  Puritans,  the  Scotch  Covenanters,  the 
French  Huguenots,  the  Dutch  Calvinists,  and  the 
Presbyterians  of  Ulster." 


42 


V 
EXPANSION  AND  REVIVALS,  1789-1835 


THE  FIRST  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY 

After  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  and  in 
accordance  with  its  provisions,  the  Synod  ap- 
pointed the  General  Assembly  to  meet  in  the  city 
of  Philadelphia,  in  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church,  on  the  third  Thursday  of  May,  1789, 
It  also  resolved  that,  the  General  Synod  be  divided 
into  four  Synods,  severally  named  New  York  and 
New  Jersey,  Philadelphia,  Virginia,  and  The 
Carolinas.  The  first  of  these  Synods  included 
the  Presbyteries  of  Dutchess  County,  New 
Brunswick,  New  York,  and  Suffolk;  the  second, 
those  of  Baltimore,  Carlisle,  Lewes,  New  Castle, 
and  Philadelphia;  the  third,  those  of  Hanover, 
Lexington,  and  Redstone;  the  fourth,  those  of 
Abingdon,  Orange,  and  South  Carolina.  The 
moderator  appointed  bv  the  General  Synod  to 
open  the  Assembly  tn^s  Rev.  John  Wither- 
spoon,  D.  D>>  of  Princeton,  New  Jersey,  and  the 
moderator  elected  was  Rev.  John  Rodgers, 
D.D.,  of  New  York  City.  The  basis  of  the 
representation  of  the  Presbyteries  in  the  first 
General  Assembly  was  that  every  Presbytery  con- 
sisting of  not  more  than  six  ministers  should  send 
one  minister  and  one  elder  as  commissioners, 
[43] 


A   CONCISE   HISTORY   OF 

and  in  like  proportion  for  every  six  ministers. 
The  basis  of  representation  at  present  is  one 
minister  and  one  elder  for  every  twenty-four 
ministers,  or  for  each  additional  fractional  number 
of  ministers  not  less  than  twelve.  One  of  the 
fundamental  principles  of  Presbyterianism  is  the 
cooperation  of  the  people  with  the  ministry  in 
church  government,  and  this  end  is  attained 
through  the  presence  in  all  the  church  judica- 
tories of  ruling  elders,  who  are  called  in  the 
Constitution  "the  representatives  of  the  people." 
The  relation  of  the  General  Assembly  to  the 
"people"  is  emphasized  in  the  Form  of  Govern- 
ment, by  the  statement  that  as  the  highest 
judicatory  of  the  Church  "it  shall  represent 
in  one  body,  all  the  particular  churches  of  this 
denomination." 

THE  GENERAL  ASSOCIATION  OF  CONNECTICUT 

In  1792  the  General  Assembly  entered  into 
correspondence  with  the  General  Association  of 
the  Churches  of  Connecticut,  by  the  appointment 
of  a  standing  committee.  ^  One  result  of  the  corre- 
spondence was  the  admission  of  delegates  from  the 
Association  to  sit  in  the  Assembly,  with  the  right 
to  speak,  but  not  to  vote.  In  1793  Timothy 
Dwight,  Jonathan  Edwards  (the  younger)  and 
Matthias  Burnet,  took  their  seats  in  the  General 
Assembly  as  delegates  from  the  General  Associa- 
tion. In  1794  the  delegates  of  the  Association 
[441 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

were  permitted  to  vote.  In  1809  the  General 
Association  of  Vermont,  in  1810  that  of  New 
Hampshire,  and  in  1811  that  of  Massachusetts, 
were  allowed  representation  in  the  General 
Assembly.  By  the  year  1830,  however,  owing  to 
opposition  based  mainly  on  constitutional 
grounds,  this  usage  had  altogether  ceased.  As  a 
partial  warrant  for  the  above-mentioned  practice, 
it  is  sufficient  to  state  that  the  majority  of  the 
churches  of  Connecticut,  at  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  regarded  themselves  as  being 
practically  Presbyterian  churches.  In  1799  the 
Hartford  North  Association  made  the  following 
declaration:  "This  Association  gives  information 
to  all  whom  it  may  concern  that  the  constitution 
of  the  churches  in  the  State  of  Connecticut, 
founded  on  the  common  usages  and  the  Confession 
of  Faith,  Heads  of  Agreement  and  Articles  of 
Church  Discipline  adopted  at  the  earliest  period 
of  the  settlement  of  the  State,  is  not  Congrega- 
tional, but  contains  the  essentials  of  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Church  of  Scotland  or  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  America."  This  action  will 
explain  why  plans  of  correspondence  and  of  union 
were  possible,  between  the  General  Association 
of  Connecticut  and  the  General  Assembly.  It 
is  also  an  explanation  of  the  strength  of  Presby- 
terianism  in  Western  New  York,  Northern  Ohio 
and  other  parts  of  the  country  where  New  Eng- 
land elements  abound  in  the  population. 

[451 


A   CONCISE  HISTORY  OF 
THE  PLAN  OF  UNION  OF  1801 

Another  result  of  the  correspondence  entered 
into  with  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut, 
was  the  establishment  in  1801  of  the  Plan  of 
Union.  The  year  1798  was  a  time  of  spiritual 
depression,  evidenced  by  the  lack  of  vitality  in 
the  churches,  and  in  the  general  prevalence  in 
the  country  of  infidelity,  irreligion  and  immoral- 
ity. In  1799  and  1800,  however,  the  Holy  Spirit 
graciously  visited  Central  and  Western  New  York, 
and  Kentucky,  in  revivals  of  religion,  while  the 
Church  as  a  whole  was  decidedly  quickened  by 
His  influence.  Many  converts  were  added  to  the 
churches,  and  the  organization  of  new  churches 
became  imperative  in  the  frontier  districts.  To 
avoid  conflict  or  collision  in  the  work  of  church 
^  extension,  the  General  Assembly  and  the  General 
/  Association  devised  the  Plan  of  Union.  This 
scheme  allowed  Congregational  ministers  to  serve 
Presbyterian  churches,  and  vice  versa,  without 
interfering  with  the  relation  of  either  ministers 
or  churches  to  the  bodies  under  whose  control 
/  they  naturally  belonged.  In  cases  of  dispute,  the 
questions  at  issue  could  be  referred  either  to  a 
Presbytery  or  to  a  council.  Further,  mixed 
churches  of  Congregationalists  and  Presbyterians 
could  be  governed  by  committeemen,  and  be 
represented  in  Presbytery  by  one  of  the  latter  if 
desired.  As  a  result  of  the  last  provision  named, 
committeemen  sat  at  times  as  commissioners  in 
[461 


THE    PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

the  General  Assembly.  The  plan  remained  in 
operation  for  a  generation.  At  least  five  Con- 
gregational Associations  became  officially  parts 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  That  it  was  useful 
to  the  churches  consenting  to  it  and  to  the  cause 
of  Christ,  for  a  time,  is  freely  admitted;  that  it 
brought  into  the  Presbyterian  Church  a  large  and 
vigorous  New  England  element  is  unquestion- 
able; but  it  also  introduced  germs  of  strife,  for  its 
features  were  main  causes  of  the  controversies 
and  conflicts  which  in  1837  led  to  the  great 
division. 

THE  REVIVAL  OF  1799-1800 

The  revival  in  Kentucky  deserves  more  than 
passing  notice.  Presbyterianism  established  it- 
self in  this  state  as  early  as  1783,  in  the  person  of 
the  justly  celebrated  Rev.  David  Rice.  In  1786 
the  General  Synod  constituted  the  ministers  and 
churches  in  the  territory  into  the  Presbytery  of 
Transylvania,  and  the  growth  of  the  Church  was 
so  rapid  that  in  1802  the  Synod  of  Kentucky  was 
erected  by  the  General  Assembly.  The  popula- 
tion of  the  state  was  hardy  and  courageous.  As 
in  many  other  new  communities,  religion  exerted 
comparatively  little  influence.  In  1799,  however, 
a  revival  spirit  began  to  be  manifested  in  certain 
churches,  and  by  July,  1800,  included  in  its  sweep 
the  whole  region.  Great  multitudes  gathered  to 
listen  to  the  gospel,  and  the  impossibility  of 
[47] 


A   CONCISE   HISTORY   OF 

accommodating  them  in  churches  and  towns  led 
to  the  estabhshment  of  "camp  meetings."  These 
meetings  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  are  therefore 
Presbyterian  in  origin,  and  were  warranted 
by  the  circumstances  of  the  people  among  whom 
they  were  first  instituted,  for  it  was  the  revival 
which  brought  about  the  camp  meeting.  The 
revival  also  led  to  a  demand  for  ministers  beyond 
the  supply,  and  the  excesses  attending  it  gave  rise 
from  1803  onward  to  bitter  controversy.  The 
action  of  the  Cumberland  Presbytery  in  ordaining 
to  the  ministry  persons,  who,  in  the  judgment  of 
the  Synod  of  Kentucky,  were  not  qualified  for  the 
office,  either  by  learning  or  by  sound  doctrine, 
occasioned  the  dissolution  of  the  Presbytery  by 
the  Synod  in  1806,  and  finally,  in  1810,  to  the 
initial  steps  in  the  establishment  of  what  was 
known  as  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church. 

THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARIES 

The  next  important  step  in  the  history  of  the 
Church  was  the  establishment  of  a  theological 
seminary  at  Princeton,  New  Jersey.  Previous  to 
the  founding  of  this  seminary,  candidates  for  the 
ministry  were  trained  for  their  work,  under  the 
care  of  such  pastors  of  churches  as  were  deemed 
qualified  for  so  important  a  trust.  The  Church, 
however,  had  grown  to  so  great  an  extent  that  the 
demand  for  ministers  could  not  be  supplied  under 
the  pastoral  system  of  training,  and  in  addition, 
[48] 


THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

the  influence  of  the  system  was  not  always  such 
as  to  secure  advantageous  results.  The  Assembly 
estabhshed,  therefore,  in  1812,  a  theological 
seminary,  at  Princeton,  New  Jersey,  and  Dr. 
Archibald  Alexander  was  elected  the  first  pro- 
fessor. Other  similar  institutions  were  founded 
as  the  need  for  them  arose.  The  dates  of  the 
establishment  of  the  theological  seminaries  other 
than  Princeton  are:  Auburn  (New  York), 
1819;  Union  (Virginia),  1824;  Western  (Alle- 
gheny), 1827;  Lane  (Cincinnati),  1829;  Mc- 
Cormick  (Chicago),  1830;  Columbia  (South 
Carohna),  1831;  Union  (New  York),  1836; 
Danville  (Kentucky),  1853;  German  (Dubuque), 
1856;  Biddle  (colored).  North  CaroHna),  1868; 
German  (Bloomfield,  New  Jersey),  1869;  San 
Francisco,  1871;  Lincoln  (colored,  Pennsylvania), 
1871;  Omaha,  (Nebraska),  1891.  Of  these,  the 
seminaries  in  Virginia  and  South  Carolina  are 
now  in  connection  with  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  United  States,  and  Union  Seminary  (New 
York)  has  renounced  its  connection  with  the 
Assembly. 

STRENGTH  OF  THE  CHURCH  IN  1812 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  strength  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  west  of  the  AUeghenies  at 
the  date  of  the  foundation  of  the  first  theological 
seminary.  The  estimate  submitted  is  based  upon 
statements  furnished  by  missionaries  sent  out  by 
[49] 


Presb. 
Ministers. 

Presb. 
Churches. 

70 

101 

49 

78 

3 

12 

40 

91 

26 

79 

0 

0 

0 

0 

4 

6 

1 

1 

0 

0 

A   CONCISE   HISTORY   OF 

the  General  Assembly,  and  is  drawn  from  Gillett's 
"History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church": 

Pop. 

Western  Pennsylvania 200,000 

Ohio 330,000 

Western  Virginia 75,000 

Kentucky 400,000 

Tennessee 200,000 

Louisiana 120,000 

Missouri  Territory 21,000 

Mississippi  Territory 58,000 

Indiana  Territory 25,000 

Illinois  Territory 13,000 

Total 1,502,000  193  368 


EARLY  HOME  MISSIONARIES 

The  demands  of  the  westward-moving  tide  of 
population  were  the  influential  causes  in  the 
establishment  of  the  theological  seminaries,  and 
those  demands  have  kept  pace  through  all  the 
years  with  the  development  and  growth  of  the 
nation.  In  the  newer  regions  it  is  still  as  true  as 
it  was  in  1812,  that  the  churches  far  exceed  the 
ministers  in  number,  and  it  is  also  true  that  there 
is,  as  of  old,  much  call  for  self-denial  and  consecra- 
tion. What  self-denial  on  the  part  of  home 
missionaries  meant  in  the  early  years  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  may  be  inferred  from  the  reports 
made  to  the  General  Assembly  by  the  missionaries 
of  the  day.  One  of  them,  for  instance — James 
Hall,  missionary  to  the  Mississippi  Territory — 
[50] 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

"served  on  his  mission  seven  months  and  thirteen 
days,  and  received  eighty-six  dollars"  for  his  sup- 
port. Another,  John  Lindley,  for  four  months' 
work,  during  which  he  "baptized  eleven  children 
and  preached  ninety-six  times,"  received  twelve 
dollars  and  fifty  cents.  The  men  of  this  earlier 
day  willingly  counted  all  things  but  loss  for  Christ, 
and  to  their  self-denying  labors  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  humanly  speaking,  owes  her  present 
position  of  power  and  influence  west  of  the  Alle- 
ghenies. 

GROWTH  1800-1830 

The  growth  of  the  Church  from  1800  to  1830 
was  very  decided.  The  total  membership  in  the 
first  year  named  was  about  twenty  thousand; 
in  the  last  it  was  reported  as  being  173,327.  The 
regions  in  which  progress  was  chiefly  made  are  in 
part  indicated  by  the  dates  of  the  organization 
of  new  Synods,  viz.,  Kentucky  and  Pittsburgh, 
1802;  Albany,  1803;  Geneva,  1812;  North 
Carolina,  with  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  1813; 
Ohio  and  Tennessee,  1814;  Geneva,  1821;  New 
Jersey,  1823;  Western  Reserve,  1825;  West 
Tennessee  and  Indiana,  1826;  Utica,  Mississippi 
and  South  Alabama,  and  Cincinnati,  1829;  and 
Illinois,  1831. 

THE  HOME  MISSION  ENTERPRISE 

The  progress  in  Christian  enterprise  during  the 
period  is  exhibited  by  the  mission  work  under- 

[511 


A   CONCISE   HISTORY   OF 

taken  by  the  General  Assembly.  Home  mission 
effort  was  begun  by  the  General  Synod  as  early 
as  1719,  as  already  stated,  and  was  continued 
by  the  appointment  from  time  to  time  of  com- 
mittees of  supervision.  The  General  Assembly 
itself  at  first  directly  controlled  the  work;  but 
in  1802  led  thereto  by  the  growing  importance  of 
the  interests  in  hand,  established  a  standing  com- 
mittee on  home  missions.  This  committee  was 
formally  constituted  by  the  Assembly  in  1816  as 
the  Board  of  Missions,  and  in  1829  the  Western 
Missionary  Society  of  the  Synod  of  Pittsburgh  was 
consolidated  with  the  Assembly's  Board  of 
Dc  -lestic  Missions.  Beginning  in  the  city  of 
New  York  in  1719,  the  home  mission  cause  has 
grown  little  by  little,  until  in  1916  it  covers  through 
the  work  of  the  Assembly,  of  the  Synods,  and  of 
Presbyteries,  every  state  and  territory. 

THE  FOREIGN  MISSION  ADVANCE 

The  foreign  mission  work  of  the  Church  had 
also  its  day  of  small  things.  The  first  action  of  the 
General  Synod  in  this  direction  appears  to  have 
been  the  ordination  of  i^zariah  Horton  (1742) 
as  missionary  to  the  Indians  in  the  province  of 
New  York.  In  1751  collections  were  ordered  for 
Indian  missions  by  the  Synod  of  New  York,  and 
in  1752  the  proceeds  were  committed  to  those  self- 
denying  missionaries  and  faithful  ministers, 
David  and  John  Brainerd,  whose  work  among  the 
[52] 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

Delawares  was  greatly  blessed.  Both  the  General 
Synod  and  the  General  Assembly  were  unre- 
mitting in  their  earnest  advocacy  of  missions 
to  the  aborigines.  The  movement  for  missions 
to  the  heathen,  outside  the  United  States,  was 
ushered  in  with  the  commencement  of  the  present 
century.  The  American  Board  of  Commissioners 
for  Foreign  Missions  (Boston)  was  established  in 
1810,  and  many  Presbyterian  churches  contrib- 
uted through  it  their  gifts  for  general  mission  work 
in  foreign  lands.  In  1817  the  General  Assembly 
resolved  to  enter  itself  upon  foreign  mission  work, 
and  founded,  in  conjunction  with  the  Reformed 
Dutch  and  the  Associate  Reformed  Churches,  the 
United  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  located  in 
New  York,  but  this  society  in  1826  was  consoli- 
dated with  the  American  Board.  The  General 
Assembly  of  1838,  however,  deeming  it  best  for 
the  Church  to  control  her  own  mission  work, 
established  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions,  and  this  Board  has  been  greatly 
prospered  in  all  its  undertakings  and  witnesses 
to-day  for  Christ  all  round  the  world. 

THE  EDUCATIONAL  PROGRESS 

Another  important  feature  of  the  growth  of  the 
Church  during  this  period  was  the  organization 
of  the  Board  of  Education.  This  step  was  the 
natural  outgrowth  of  the  policy  which  established 
in  1812  a  theological  seminary.  The  Presbyterian 
[53] 


A   CONCISE  HISTORY  OF 

'  Church  and  education  have  an  elective  affinity 
each  for  the  other.  Her  early  leaders  were  nearly 
all  thoroughly  educated  men,  Denton,  for  in- 
stance, being  a  student  of  Cambridge  University, 
England;  Makemie,  of  Glasgow  University, 
Scotland;  Andrews,  of  Harvard  College,  Massa- 
chusetts;   and  Dickinson,  of  Yale  College,  Con- 

>  necticut.  Further,  the  Church  has  always  main- 
tained a  high  standard  of  ministerial  qualifica- 

^  tions.  True,  this  standard  has  been  twice  a  cause 
of  schism — in  1745  and  in  1810 — but  the  Church 
has  never  lowered  her  requirements  in  response 
to  demands  from  any  quarter.  Believing  an 
educated  ministry  to  be  her  strength,  she  has 
founded  and  maintained  academies,  colleges  and 
theological  seminaries,  and  has  also  justly  pro- 
vided in  part  for  the  support,  during  long  years  of 
study,  of  worthy  candidates  for  the  high  office  of 
an  "ambassador  for  Christ."  This  work  as  a 
whole  was  formally  entrusted  in  1819  to  the  Board 
of  Education,  and  through  it  as  an  instrument, 
many  are  *'the  winners  of  souls"  who  have  been 
prepared  for  the  service  to  which  the  Master  called 
them. 


54 


VI 

OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  DIVISION, 

.    1835-1869 


OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL 

About  the  year  1825  the  peace  of  the  Church 
began  seriously  to  be  disturbed  by  controversies 
respecting  the  Plan  of  Union.  Against  the  plan 
an  increasing  protest  was  made  by  many  persons 
from  year  to  year.  In  1827  the  right  to  vote  in  the 
Assembly  was  taken  from  the  delegates  of  the 
Congregational  Associations,  and  by  1830  their 
representation  therein  ceased.  In  1826  a  protest 
was  entered  on  the  minutes  of  the  Assembly, 
signed  by  forty-eight  persons,  objecting  to  the 
reception,  as  commissioners,  of  committeemen 
from  mixed  churches  which  had  Presbyterian 
pastors,  and  in  1832  the  feeling  that  the  presence 
of  such  persons  in  the  Assembly  as  members  was 
not  warranted  by  the  Constitution  had  become  so 
strong,  that  formal  resolutions  were  presented 
against  the  practice  and  passed  by  a  considerable 
majority.  In  addition  to  questions  constitutional 
in  their  nature,  there  were  also  questions  of  policy 
which  forced  themselves  upon  the  Church.  The 
contributions  of  many  of  the  churches  for  home 
mission  objects  were  made  to  the  American 
Home  Missionary  Society.  The  contributions  to 
[551 


A   CONCISE   HISTORY   OF 

foreign  missions  were  made  to  the  American 
Board.  A  large  portion  of  the  Church  contended 
that  the  time  had  come  for  the  conduct  by 
strictly  denominational  agencies  of  all  evangelistic 
work,  and  the  Pittsburgh  Synod  in  1831  consti- 
tuted itself  as  the  Western  Foreign  Missionary 
Society.  Those  opposed  to  the  estabhshment  of 
denominational  agencies  belonged  to  the  party 
known  as  the  *'New  School" ;  those  who  advocated 
it,  to  the  "Old  School."  Doctrinal  and  other  ques- 
tions were  also  to  a  considerable  extent  raised  in 
the  controversy.  The  best  authorities,  however, 
are  of  the  opinion  that  the  main  issues  which 
divided  the  Church,  were  those  relating  to  consti- 
tutional law  and  to  general  missionary  policy. 
This  view  is  substantiated  not  only  by  a  study  of 
the  history  of  the  Church  for  fifteen  years  preced- 
ing the  great  schism,  but  also  by  the  fact  that, 
when,  after  thirty  years,  it  was  proposed  to  unite 
the  long-separated  branches  of  the  Church,  doc- 
trinal differences,  though  in  some  particulars  as 
marked  in  1867  as  in  1837,  did  not  suffice  to  pre- 
vent reunion.  The  acts  of  the  Assembly  of  1837 
are  also  a  part  of  the  e\adence  of  the  correct- 
ness of  this  position.  The  Assembly  first  of 
all,  on  May  23,  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and 
forty-three  to  one  hundred  and  ten,  abrogated 
the  Plan  of  Union  with  the  General  Association 
of  Connecticut.  On  June  1  it  passed  a  reso- 
lution "that  by  the  operation  of  the  abrogation 
[56] 


THE    PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

of  the  Plan  of  Union  of  1801  the  Synod  of  the 
Western  Reserve  is  hereby  declared  to  be  no 
longer  a  part  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States  of  America."  This  action  was 
followed  successively  by  resolutions  against  the 
American  Home  Missionary  Society  and  the 
American  Education  Society,  by  the  excision  of 
the  Synods  of  Utica,  Geneva  and  Genesee,  and 
by  the  establishment  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions.  When  the  Assembly  of  1838 
met,  the  "New  School"  commissioners  protested 
against  the  exclusion  of  the  delegates  from  the 
four  exscinded  Synods,  organized  an  Assembly  of 
their  own  in  the  presence  of  the  sitting  Assembly, 
and  then  witlidrew  from  the  house.  The  matters 
at  issue  between  the  Schools  were  referred  to  the 
civil  courts  for  settlement.  The  first  decision 
was  in  favor  of  the  New  School,  but  the  case  on 
appeal  was  decided  in  favor  of  the  Old  School. 
By  the  latter  decision  the  Old  School  Assembly 
became  legally  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church. 

PROGRESS  DURING  DIVISION 

Into  the  history  of  the  divided  branches  of  the 
Church  we  cannot  enter  at  length.  Both  branches 
grew  slowly,  but  steadily;  both  were  benefited  by 
revivals  of  religion  at  intervals — notably,  the 
revival  of  1857;  and  both  made  progress  in  the 
organization  of  their  own  benevolent  work. 
[571 


A    CONCISE   HISTORY    OF 

As  early  as  1852  the  New  School  Assembly  be- 
gan to  appoint  committees  for  the  receipt  and 
control  of  the  benevolent  contributions  from  the 
churches,  and  in  1862  it  constituted  the  Presby- 
terian Committee  of  Home  Missions. 

THE  PUBLICATION  CAUSE 
In  1838  the  Old  School  Assembly  established 
'  the  Board  of  Publication,  and  in  1852  the  New 
School  Assembly  committed  the  same  work  to  a 
committee.  This  agency  of  the  Church  is  now 
second  to  none  in  importance  and  usefulness. 
The  habitual  thought  of  a  people  is  largely  shaped 

>>  by  the  character  of  its  reading.  Great  is  the  need, 
therefore,  that  Christian  thought  shall  through 
the  printed  page  reach  and  influence  the  mind  of 

■  the  nation.  The  dissemination  of  a  religious 
literature  was  at  first  the  only  province  of  this 
Board,  but  its  work  has  been  providentially  and 
greatly  enlarged  by  the  wonderful  development  of 
the  Church's  Sabbath-school  interests.  The  chil- 
dren of  the  Church  are  now  the  special  con- 
stituency of  this  agency,  and  its  name  was  accord- 
ingly changed  by  the  General  Assembly,  in  1887, 
to  *'The  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication  and 
Sabbath  School  Work." 

THE  CHURCH  ERECTION  FUND 
The  Board  of  the  Church  Erection  Fund  was 
first  established  as  an  organization  in  1844  (O.  S.) 
and  in  1854  (N.  S.).     This  Board  has  charge  of 

[58] 


THE    PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

the  work  of  erecting  church  buildings  and  parson- 
ages in  feeble  congregations.  The  aid  it  has  given 
in  the  conservation  of  new  churches,  through  the 
erection  of  church  edifices,  thus  sustaining  them 
in  weakness  until  they  attain  to  strength,  can- 
not be  overestimated. 

MINISTERIAL  RELIEF 

The  cause  of  ministerial  relief  was  committed 
by  the  Old  School  General  Assembly  to  a  Board 
in  1855;  its  beginnings,  however,  can  be  traced 
back  to  1719,  when  the  General  Synod  voted  from 
its  fund  a  sum  of  money  for  the  widow  of  Rev. 
John  Wilson.  In  1755  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia 
established  the  corporation  known  as  "The 
Widows'  Fund";  the  action  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  1855,  therefore,  simply  gave  organic 
shape  to  a  form  of  public  and  private  benevolence 
long  existent.  Deeply  impressed  with  a  sense  of 
the  obligations  resting  upon  the  Church,  with 
regard  to  its  disabled  ministers  and  the  widows 
and  orphans  of  deceased  ministers,  the  Assembly 
of  1887  recommended  the  raising  by  the  Church  of 
a  "Centenary  Fund"  of  one  million  dollars,  to  be 
added  to  the  permanent  fund  of  the  Board 
($365,538),  the  interest  of  which  was  annually  to 
be  devoted  to  the  relief  of  the  Church's  disabled 
veterans  and  their  families.  This  fund,  when 
completed  in  1889,  added  immediately  to  the 
Board's  endowments,  the  sum  of  $605,000. 
[591 


A   CONCISE  HISTORY   OF 

MISSIONS  TO  FREEDMEN 

The  mission  work  among  the  colored  people  in 
this  country  is  by  no  means  of  recent  date.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  century  the  General  Assembly 
adopted  measures  with  a  view  to  their  evangeliza- 
tion.    Ministers    in    Virginia,    North    Carolina, 
Georgia,    Tennessee   and   other   southern   states 
gave  much  time,  labor  and  money  to  the  preaching 
of  the  gospel  to  the  slaves,  and  at  the  opening  of 
^  the  Civil  War  there  were  some   12,000  colored 
/communicants  in  churches  under  the  Assembly's 
^care.     Special  effort,  however,  was  put  forth  by 
•the    Church    for    the    Freedmen,    when    victory 
crowned   the    arms    of   the   republic.     The   two 
branches   organized   each   a   committee   to   take 
charge  of  the  work— the  New  School  in  1865,  and 
the  Old  School  in   1866.     In   1882  this  united 

♦  committee  was  erected  into  the  Board  of  Missions 

•  for  Freedmen. 

THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH  SOUTH 

The  progress  of  the  two  branches  of  the  Church 
was  checked  by  disruption.  The  New  School 
Assembly  of  1857  took  strong  ground  in  opposi- 
tion to  slavery,  as  a  result  of  which  several  South- 
ern Presbyteries  withdrew,  and  organized  the 
United  Synod  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  This 
body  in  1863  formed  a  union  with  the  body  now 
known  as  the  "Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United 
States." 

[60] 


THE    PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

In  May,  1861,  the  Old  School  Assembly  met  at 
Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  with  but  thirteen 
commissioners  present  from  the  states  which  had 
seceded  from  the  Union.  Dr.  Gardiner  Spring,  a 
commissioner  from  the  Presbytery  of  New  York, 
offered  resolutions  recommending  a  day  of  prayer, 
professing  loyalty  to  the  Federal  government,  and 
declaring  it  a  duty  to  support  that  government 
and  preserve  the  Union.  These  resolutions  were 
passed  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  fifty -six  to 
sixty-six,  the  minority,  however,  simply  protest- 
ing against  the  Assembly's  acting  upon  political 
issues  and  determining  questions  of  civil  alle- 
giance. The  "Spring  Resolutions"  were  the  alleged  *■ 
reason  for  the  organization  of  the  "Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  Confederate  States  of  America," 
which  met  first  in  General  Assembly  at  Augusta,  • 
Georgia,  December  4,  1861,  was  enlarged  by  union 
in  1863  with  the  United  Synod,  upon  the  cessation 
of  hostilities  in  1865  took  the  name  of  the  *'Pres-  • 
byterian  Church  in  the  United  States,"  and  in  f 
1886  formally  celebrated  its  quarter  centennial. 
Its  numbers  were  increased  in  1869  by  the  adher- 
ence of  that  part  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky  which 
by  "Declaration  and  Testimony,"  protested  in 
1867  against  the  action  of  the  Old  School  General 
Assembly  with  regard  to  the  ministers  and  mem- 
bers of  the  Church  South,  and  in  1874,  for  the 
same  reason,  by  the  accession  of  part  of  the  Synod 
of  Missouri.  These  additions  increased  the  mem- 
[61] 


A    CONCISE   HISTORY   OF 

bership  by  over  twenty  thousand.     The  strength 

of  this  Church  in  1916  was  1861  ministers,  3437 
'  churches  and  348,223  communicants.  The  Pres- 
^  byterian  Church,  U.  S.  A.,  had  in  1916  "within  the 

same  territory   1713    ministers,    2372    churches, 

and  209,939  communicants. 


im 


VII 
REUNION  AND  ADVANCE,  1870-1900 


MOVEMENT  TOWARD  UNION 

Correspondence  between  the  "Old  School"  and 
"New  School"  General  Assemblies  was  established 
as  early  as  1862,  under  the  pressure  of  a  widely 
extended  and  growing  fraternal  feeling.     The  two  > 
Assemblies  met  in  St.  Louis  in  1866,  and  partook  • 
together  of  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  • 
Committees  of  conference  with  a  view  to  union 
were  appointed  the  same  year,  and  in   1867  a 
Presbyterian  national  convention  held  in  Phila- 
delphia, Pennsylvania,  gave  a  powerful  impulse 
to  the   reunion  movement.     The  report  of  the 
committees  of  conference,  though  adopted  by  both 
the  Assemblies  of  1868,  was  rejected  by  a  decided 
majority    of   the   Old    School   Presbyteries,    and 
reunion,  as  a  result,  was  consummated  on  the 
basis    of    the    "Standards    pure    and    simple," 
November  12,  1869,  at  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania. 
Article  II  of  the  Plan  of  Union,  containing  this  i 
basis,  reads  as  follows:    "The  Reunion  shall  be 
effected  on  the  doctrinal  and  ecclesiastical  basis 
of  our  common  standards;    the  Scriptures  of  thei 
Old  and  New  Testaments  shall  be  acknowledged 
to  be  the  inspired  word  of  God,  and  the  only 
infaUible  rule  of  faith  and  practice;    the  Confes-  ^ 
sion  of  Faith  shall  continue  to  be  sincerely  received 

[631 


A   CONCISE  HISTORY  OF 

and  adopted  as  containing  the  system  of  doctrine 
'  taught  in  the  Holy  Scriptures;  and  the  Govern- 
ment and  Disciphne  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  United  States  shall  be  approved  as  con- 
taining the  principles  and  rules  of  our  polity." 

In  connection  with  Reunion  a  memorial  fund 
was  raised,  the  amount  of  which  was  reported  as 
being  $7,883,983.85.  It  w^as  mainly  expended  in 
paying  church  debts,  in  endowing  colleges  and  in 
erecting  new  houses  of  worship. 

THE  CONTROVERSY  OF  1891 
Since  the  Reunion  of  1869,  the  Church  has  made 
steady  progress  along  all  lines,  and  its  harmony  has 
been  seriously  threatened  only  by  controversy 
'   (1891-1894),   as  to  the  sources  of  authority  in 
^   religion,  and  the  authority  and  credibility  of  Holy 
•  Scripture,  a  controversy  which  terminated  in  the 
adoption  by  the  General  Assembly,  at  Minnea- 
polis, Minnesota,  in  1899,  of  a  unanimous  deliver- 
ance affirming  the  loyalty  of  the  Church  to  its 
historic  views  on  these  subjects. 

THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI 

The  progress  of  the  Church  in  the  regions  be- 
yond the  Mississippi  has  been  notable  from  their 
earliest  occupation,  and  was  stimulated  by  the 
Reunion.  The  work  of  Home  Missions  usually 
kept  step  with  the  advance  of  population,  and  the 
organization  of  churches  was  carried  forward  in  a 
most  effective  manner.  This  progress  is  shown 
164] 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

in  part,  before  and  after  1869,  by  the  dates  of  the 
erection  of  certain  Synods  of  the  West,  as  follows 
Wisconsin,  1851;    Iowa,  1852;    Minnesota,  1858 
Kansas,    1869;     Nebraska,    1874;     Texas,    1878 
Dakota,  1884;  South  Dakota  and  North  Dakota, 
1888;   Indian  Territory,  now  Oklahoma,  1895. 

THE  PACIFIC  COAST  AND  THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAINS 

The  Church  on  the  Pacific  Coast  began  with  the 
mission  work  of  Marcus  Whitman,  M.  D.,  in 
Oregon,  and  by  the  organization  of  the  church  at 
Wai-ye-lat-poo  (Kamiah)  in  1838.  Whitman 
saved  the  far  Northwest  to  the  United  States,  and 
laid  the  foundations  of  Christian  work  in  two  great 
Synods.  Church  work  in  California  followed 
promptly  upon  the  acquisition  of  territory  from 
Mexico,  and  its  settlement  in  1849.  The  Synod 
of  the  Pacific,  now  California,  was  established  in 
1852,  and  included  the  entire  Pacific  Coast  within 
its  jurisdiction.  The  Synod  of  Alta  California, 
w^as  established  in  1856,  and  was  consolidated  with 
its  sister  Synod  in  1870.  In  1876,  the  Synod  of 
Columbia  (now  Oregon),  was  erected,  and  in  1890, 
that  of  Washington.  In  the  adjoining  Rocky 
Mountain  regions  the  dates  of  the  establishment 
of  the  Synods  were:  Colorado,  1871,  Utah,  1883; 
New  Mexico,  1889;  Montana,  1893;  Idaho, 
1909;  and  Arizona,  1912.  In  1881  the  great 
majority  of  the  Synods  were  consolidated  upon 
the  principle  of  conforming  their  boundaries  to 
[G5] 


A   CONCISE   HISTORY    OF 

the  boundaries  of  the  states  in  which  they  were 

located. 

THE  PROGRESS,  1875-1900 

Other  important  events  in  the  history  of  the 
Church  during  the  closing  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century  were  the  following: 

In  1875  the  General  Assembly  entered  into  the 
"Alliance  of  the  Reformed  Churches  throughout 
the  World  holding  the  Presley terian  System," 
composed  of  about  ninety  national  and  denomina- 
tional Churches  located  on  all  the  continents,  and 
having  in  1916  a  total  of  35,000,000  of  adherents. 
In  1881  the  important  work  of  temperance  reform 
was  entrusted  to  the  Committee  on  Temperance, 
and  this  committee  was  made  a  Board  in  1912. 
The  establishment  of  the  Board  of  Aid  for  Colleges 
and  Academies,  in  1883,  was  caused  by  the  demands 
of  the  West  for  institutions  of  the  higher  educa- 
tion. This  Board  is  now  entitled  the  College 
Board.  In  1888  the  Centennial  of  the  General 
Assembly  was  jointly  celebrated  in  Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania,  by  the  Churches  South  and  North, 
and  a  Centenary  Fund  of  $605,000  was  raised, 
which  was  added,  as  elsewhere  stated,  to  the  En- 
dowment Fund  of  the  Board  of  Ministerial  Relief. 
Correspondence  between  the  two  General  Assem- 
bhes,  of  the  United  States  of  America  and  of  the 
United  States  (South),  was  first  brought  about  in 
1882.  Plans  of  cooperation  between  the  Churches 
have  also  been  adopted  from  time  to  time. 
[661 


VIII 
THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


THE  NEW  EVANGELISM 

As  the  twentieth  century  opened,  the  Church 
began  to  organize  for  an  advance  in  all  its  depart- 
ments of  work.  The  Assembly's  Committee  on 
the  Twentieth  Century  Fund  by  concerted  effort 
brought  about  a  decided  increase  in  contributions 
for  church  support,  and  also  for  missions  and 
benevolence,  an  increase  which  has  continued 
until  the  present  time.  Realizing  that  the  great- 
est asset  and  the  supreme  test  of  a  Christian 
Church  is  its  possession  of  evangelistic  power,  the 
General  Assembly  established,  in  1901,  the  Evan- 
gehstic  Committee,  through  whose  efforts  under 
God's  blessing,  a  decided  uphft  has  been  given  to 
spiritual  conditions,  not  only  within  the  Presby- 
terian, but  also  among  many  other  denominations. 
As  evidence  of  the  value  of  this  evangelistic  move- 
ment the  number  of  persons  added  to  the  con- 
gregations on  confession  of  faith  was  more  than 
doubled  between  1899  and  1916.  It  is  to  be 
remembered  in  the  words  of  Benjamin  Harrison, 
President  of  the  United  States,  that  the  Presby- 
terian Church  "though  it  has  made  no  boast  or 
shout  has  been  an  aggressive  church,  has  been  a 
missionary  Church  from  the  beginning." 
[671 


A   CONCISE   HISTORY   OF 
THE  CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIAN  REUNION 

Believing   that   the   Churches   in   the   United 
States    of    the    Presbyterian    family    should    be 

•  brought  closer  together,  in  1903  the  General 
Assembly  appointed  a  Committee  on  Church 
Cooperation  and  Union,  as  a  result  of  whose  activ- 

-y  ity,  terms  of  union  were  framed  (1904-1905) 
between  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United 
States  of  America  and  the  Cumberland  Presby- 

'  terian  Church.  This  union  was  acomplished  on 
the  basis  of  the  Westminster  Standards  as  revised 
in  1903,  at  the  respective  General  Assemblies  held 
at  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  and  Decatur,  Illinois,  in 

'  1906.  There  has  been  considerable  litigation  in 
connection  with  this  union,  but  in  any  event  the 
additions  through  it  to  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  United  States  of  America  amounted  to 
about  1200  ministers,  1800  churches  and  90,000 

/^communicants.  It  is  noteworthy  that  this  Re- 
union of  Churches  was  the  third  effected  in  the 
history  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United 
States  of  America  on  the  basis  of  the  Standards, 
the  other  two  being  the  Reunions  of  1758  and 

/  1869.  The  Westminster  Standards  are  a  living 
power    in    relation    to    American    Presbyterian 

•  Churches.  One  reason  for  this  is  the  fact  that 
they  are  the  only  ecumenical  Standards  of 
Doctrine  ever  adopted  by  the  religious  repre- 
sentatives of  English-speaking  evangelical  Chris- 
tendom. 

[68] 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

One  of  the  results  of  the  union  with  the  Cumber- 
land Church,  was  the  establishment  of  two  Synods, 
additional  to  Atlantic  (1868),  and  Catawba 
(1887),  composed  only  of  ministers  and  congrega- 
tions of  colored  people,  namely,  Canadian  and 
East  Tennessee.  The  race  and  nationality  prin- 
ciple in  Church  organization  was  also  recognized 
in  1912  by  the  erection  of  the  West  German  Synod. 
This  principle  had  been  accepted,  however,  in 
colonial  times  in  the  Welsh,  the  German,  and  the 
Colored  Churches  in  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  and 
Maryland,  and  later  on  down  to  the  present  time 
in  churches  of  these  and  other  nationalities, 
wherever  needed. 

GENERAL  CHRISTIAN  FELLOWSHIP 

The  Committee  on  Church  Cooperation  and 
Union  was  also  instrumental  in  establishing  the 
"Council  of  Reformed  Churches  in  the  United 
States  holding  the  Presbyterian  System,"  organ- 
ized in  1907  through  the  adoption  of  "Articles  of 
Agreement,"  and  bringing  into  closer  relations 
seven  of  the  Presbyterian  and  Reformed  Churches 
in  the  country.  The  Church  through  it  was, 
in  addition,  a  factor  in  the  organization  in 
December,  1908,  at  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  -• 
of  the  "Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ 
in  America,"  composed  of  thirty  denominations,  ^ 
having  about  17,000,000  communicants,  and 
representing  a  majority  of  the  people  of  the 
[69] 


A    CONCISE  HISTORY  OF 

United  States.  The  Church,  further,  has  always 
given  its  cordial  support  to  interdenominational 
organizations  such  as  the  American  Bible  Society, 
the  Lord's  Day  Alliance  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor.  It 
fellowships  freely  with  all  evangelical  Christians, 
and  recognizes  fully  the  rights  of  conscience  of  all 
persons. 

THE  REVISION  OF  THE  CONFESSION 

The  Confession  of  Faith,  which  had  been 
amended  since  1788  only  in  1887,  as  elsewhere 
indicated,  was  in  1903  revised  to  a  considerable 
extent.  The  amendments  were  in  chapters  x,  xvi, 
xxii,  and  xxv,  a  Declaratory  Statement  also  was 
adopted  as  to  chapters  iii  and  x,  denying  that 
they  were  fatalistic  in  teaching,  and  chapters 
xxxiv  and  xxxv  were  added  to  the  Confession, 
respectively  entitled,  "Of  the  Holy  Spirit,"  and 
"Of  the  Love  of  God  and  Missions."  This 
revision  was  for  the  express  purpose  of  the  dis- 
avowal of  certain  improper  inferences  drawn  by 
persons  outside  the  Church,  as  to  its  doctrines  on 
God's  eternal  decree,  the  love  of  God  for  all  man- 
kind, and  his  readiness  to  bestow  his  saving  grace 
on  all  who  seek  it.  The  Church  also  officially 
declared  that  all  persons  dying  in  infancy  are 
included  in  the  election  of  grace,  and  are  regener- 
ated and  saved  by  Christ  through  the  Spirit, 
"who  works  when  and  where  and  how  he  pleases." 
[70] 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

One  year  prior  to  the  Revision  of  1902,  the  Gener- 
al Assembly  adopted  unanimously  a  "Brief  State- 
ment of  the  Reformed  Faith,  for  a  better  under- 
standing of  our  doctrinal  beliefs."  While  not  a 
Standard  of  Doctrine,  the  Statement  has  decided 
value  as  explanatory  of  the  Confession. 

In  addition  to  the  brief  statement  of  the 
Reformed  Faith  the  General  Assembly  also  ap- 
proved in  1906  a  Book  of  Comntbn  Worship  pre- 
pared by  a  committee  appointed  by  the  Assembly, 
and  distinctly  declared  to  be  sc^ely  for  voluntary 
use. 

THE  SUPPLY  OF  VACANJ  CHURCHES 

The  related  questions  of  the  employment  of 
unemployed  ministers  and  the  supply  of  vacant 
churches  have  constituted  for  more  than  a  cen- 
tury one  of  the  great  problems  of  the  Church. 
In  1912  the  General  Assembly  and  the  Presby- 
teries adopted  a  constitutional  provision  author- 
izing the  General  Assembly  to  appoint  a  Perman- 
ent Committee  to  endeavor  to  solve  the  problem. 
The  committee  was  appointed,  and  has  made 
considerable  progress  in  this  most  important 
movement. 

MEN'S  WORK  AND  OTHER  ORGANIZATIONS 

The  administrative  or  governmental  standards 
have  been  frequently  amended  since  1788,  and 
during  recent  years  provision  has  been  made  for 
more  efficient  and  united  work  by  church  mem- 

[71] 


A    CONCISE   HISTORY   OF 

bers  tliroiigh  the  recognition  of  their  right  to 
estabhsh  voluntary  organizations  under  church 
supervision,  as  provided  in  chapter  xxiii  of  the 
Form  of  Government,  entitled  "Of  the  Organiza- 
tions of  the  Church."  This  trend  to  expansion 
of  service  found  expression  in  the  organization  in 
1906  of  the  Presbyterian  Brotherhood,  now  the 
Permanent  Committee  on  Men's  Work.  It  found 
important  expression  also  in  the  establishment 
of  the  Executive  Commission  of  the  General 
Assembly  in  1908,  and  by  the  adoption  in  1915  of 
chapter  xxvi  of  the  Form  of  Government,  entitled 
"Of  Executive  Commissions."  This  chapter 
authorizes  each  Church  judicatory,  from  the 
Presbytery  up  to  the  Assembly,  to  use  this  form  of 
organization  for  administrative  service  between 
the  regular  meetings  of  the  appointing  bodies,  and 
the  Executive  Commission  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly has  brought  into  unity  the  work  of  the  several 
missionary  and  benevolent  Boards.  It  also 
reports  annually  a  budget  for  the  Boards  and  for 
the  Assembly.  In  addition  to  the  Executive 
Commission,  the  Church  established  in  1907 
through  the  adoption  of  chapter  xiii  of  the 
Book  of  Discipline,  permanent  judicial  commis- 
sions for  the  several  judicatories. 

THE  MINISTERIAL  SUSTENTATION  FUND 

The  Ministerial  Sustentation  Fund  was  estab- 
Kshed  in  1906,  in  order  to  make  provision  for 

[72] 


THE    PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

pensions  for  ministers  who  preferred  to  contribute 
toward  their  own  support  in  old  age,  and  who 
believed  that  ministers  were  entitled  to  pensions 
on  the  basis  of  service  rendered.  This  fund  was 
chartered  as  a  Board,  in  1909,  and  in  1912  was 
combined  with  the  Board  of  Relief.  Under  the 
joint  auspices  of  the  two  Boards  a  movement  was 
set  on  foot  in  1913  to  raise  $10,000,000  to  provide 
for  the  needs  of  ministers  and  their  famihes,  when 
retired  through  infirmities  either  of  disease  or  of 
old  age. 

THE  PLACE  OF  WOMAN  IN  THE  CHURCH 

The  Presbyterian  Church  has  always  main- 
tained the  rights  of  woman  in  the  Church  in 
connection  with  administrative  affairs.  Women 
members  have  usually  voted  for  pastors  and  other 
church  officers.  Women's  societies  for  charitable 
purposes  have  always  existed,  and  Women's 
Foreign  Mission  societies  were  organized  as  early 
as  1870.  There  are  now  in  existence  six  of  these 
organizations,  all  in  connection  with  the  Board 
of  Foreign  Missions,  and  bringing  to  this  great 
cause  the  earnestness  and  efficiency  of  more  than 
three  fifths  of  the  membership  of  the  Churches. 
The  Woman's  Committee  of  Home  Missions  was 
organized  in  1879,  and  was  incorporated  as  a 
Board  in  1915.  Its  work  is  complementary  to 
that  of  the  Board  of  Home  Missions.  There  is 
also  a  Woman's  department  of  the  Freedmen's 
[731 


A    CONCISE   HISTORY    OF 

Board.  The  last  step  taken  by  the  Church  in 
connection  with  the  Christian  service  of  woman, 
was  the  adoption,  in  1915,  of  a  provision  in  the 
Form  of  Government,  authorizing  the  election 
and  setting  apart  of  deaconesses  in  each  of  the 
churches,  these  officers  to  be  under  the  direction 
of  the  Session. 

THE  BOARDS  AND  AGENCIES,  1916 

The  general  work  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  lines  of  Christian  activity  has  been  conducted 
from  the  beginning  either  under  the  supervision 
of  the  General  Presbytery,  the  General  Synod,  or 
the  General  Assembly.  Under  its  power  "to 
superintend  the  concerns  of  the  whole  Church," 
the  Assembly,  from  time  to  time,  as  stated  else- 
where, has  appointed  various  Agencies  for  the 
promotion  of  the  general  interests  of  the  Kingdom 
of  Christ,  some  of  them  temporary.  Those 
which  are  permanent,  for  convenience  of  refer- 
ence, are  all  named  below,  the  years  given  after 
the  names  being  the  dates  in  each  case  of  their 
original  establishment. 


Home  Missions 1816 

Education 1819 

Foreign  Missions 1837 

Publication 1838 

Church  Erection 1844 

Ministerial  Relief 1855 

Freedmen 1865 

Woman's  Foreign  Missions 1870 

Woman's  Home  Missions 1879 

[741 


THE    PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

Temperance 1881 

Colleges 1883 

Evangelism 1901 

Men's  Work 1906 

THE  PERSISTENT  ADVANCE 

It  is  interesting  to  recall  that  the  adminis- 
trative affairs  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  at  the 
time  of  the  Reformation  were  handled  by  duly 
appointed  committees  known  as  "Tables."  Rep- 
resentative government,  whether  in  Church  or 
State,  works  through  responsible  agencies  under 
the  control  of  legislative  bodies.  A  brief  account^ 
of  the  present  work  of  the  American  agencies  is 
of  interest.  During  the  fiscal  year  ending  March 
31,  1916,  the  work  of  Home  Missions  under  the 
Board  of  that  name,  aided  1912  churches,  and  had 
in  the  field  1854  missionaries.  In  addition, 
the  work  carried  on  by  the  Synods  showed 
that  under  synodical  Home  Missions,  3620 
churches  and  missions  were  aided,  and  2558  mis- 
sionary workers  were  employed.  The  Woman's 
Board  of  Home  Missions,  operated  largely  along 
special  lines,  chiefly  educational,  is  sustained 
by  the  women  and  young  people  of  the  Church, 
and  has  connected  with  it  about  14,000  socie- 
ties of  one  kind  and  another.  The  work  of 
the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  was  carried 
on,  in  the  same  year,  by  27  general  missions, 
162  stations,  1330  missionaries,  6097  native 
helpers,  and  914  fully  organized  churches  with 
[751 


•A  CONCISE   HISTORY   OF 

148,688  communicants.  Its  agencies  also  printed 
32,446,850  pages  of  Christian  truth  in  over 
twenty  languages,  and  conducted  172  hospitals 
and  dispensaries.  The  Women's  Boards  of  For- 
eign Missions  cooperating  with  the  General 
Board  are  sustained  by  many  societies  in  like 
manner  as  the  Woman's  Home  Mission  Board. 

The  Board  of  Education  had  under  its  care  in 
1916,  831  candidates  for  the  ministry  and  is 
active  in  providing  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of 
students  in  state  universities  and  other  institu- 
tions, and  also  for  the  supervision  of  training 
schools  for  lay  workers,  whose  employment  is  an 
increasing  feature  of  the  activity  of  the  Christian 
Churches  in  the  twentieth  century. 

The  Board  of  Publication  and  Sabbath  School 
Work  employed  123  missionaries  who  organized 
during  the  year,  843  schools,  and  in  addition  pro- 
vided a  Sabbath-school  literature  of  great  bulk  and 
greater  value.  The  Board  of  Church  Erection 
enabled  many  congregations  needing  aid  to  erect 
adequate  Church  edifices,  and  since  1845  has  thus 
aided  10,866  congregations.  The  Board  of  Relief 
had  under  its  care,  in  1916,  1555  persons,  men, 
women  and  children  and  is  heartily  supported 
by  the  Church  in  its  effort  for  larger  provision  for 
all  its  worthy  objects.  The  Board  of  Missions  for 
Freedmen  supervised  438  churches  and  mission 
stations,  with  27,916  communicants,  and  24,446 
Sabbath-school  pupils.  It  also  aided  in  sus- 
[76] 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

taining  272  ministers  and  494  teachers.  The 
College  Board  cooperated  in  1916  with  46  educa- 
tional institutions  organically  connected  with  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  with  18  which  were 
under  Presbyterian  influence.  The  Board  acts 
upon  the  basis  that  Christian  colleges  furnish  the 
greater  number  of  Christian  workers.  The  Per- 
manent Committees  on  Evangelism,  and  on 
Men's  Work,  are  comparatively  new,  and  their^ 
work,  while  prosperous,  is  largely  awaiting  a 
development  commensurate  with  the  spiritual 
resources  of  the  Church. 

The  great  progress  made  in  beneficence  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that  in  1789  the  total  contributions  of 
the  Church  for  missionary  and  charitable  pur- 
poses were  $852.00,  and  in  1916,  $7,818,297.00. 
The  total  amount  contributed  the  latter  year  for 
congregational  expenses  was  $20,109,322.00  and 
the  total  of  all  contributions  for  all  purposes  was 
$28,122,426.00. 

OFFICIAL  PUBLICATIONS 

The  official  publications  of  the  Church  are  the 
Records  of  the  General  Presbytery,  1706-1716,  of 
the  General  Synod,  1717-1788,  and  of  the  General 
Assembly  1789-1916,  each  in  printed  form.  They 
are  the  most  complete  ecclesiastical  records  in  the 
United  States  of  America.  The  Minutes  of  the 
General  Assembly  and  the  Reports  of  the  Boards 
are  now  both  issued  annually. 
[77] 


A    CONCISE   HISTORY   OF 
GROWTH,  1640-1916 

The  growth  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  during 
the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries  and  since, 
is  notable,  as  appears  from  the  figures  of  the  com- 
parative table  herewith  given. 


Years 

Ministers 

Churches 

Communicants 

1640 

5 

3 

500 

1690 

10 

18 

1,500 

1705 

12 

22 

2,000 

1717 

19 

40 

3,000 

1758 

98 

200 

10,000 

1789 

177 

431 

18,000 

1800 

189 

449 

20,000 

1837 

2,140 

2,965 

220,557 

1870 

4,238 

4,526 

446,561 

1880 

5,044 

5,489 

578,671 

1890 

6,158 

6,894 

775,903 

1900 

7,467 

7,750 

1,007,689 

1910 

9,073 

10,011 

1,339,000 

1915 

9,685 

9,996 

1,513,240 

1916 

9,739 

9,953 

1,560,009 

While  the  population  of  the  country  has  in- 
creased about  twenty  times  since  1800,  the  mem- 
bership of  the  Church  has  increased  about  seventy- 
eight  times  in  the  same  period,  and  the  total 
additions  on  profession  of  faith  during  the  century 
ending  with  1916,  appear  to  have  been  about 
3,500,000.  What  a  stimulus  for  future  sustained 
spiritual  advance  there  is  in  this  record! 

PRIVILEGES  AND  DUTIES 

The  history  of  the  Church  in  all  its  course  is 
one   of   moral   power   and   spiritual   uplift.     Its 

[78] 


THE    PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

Home  Missions  have  been  continuously  upon 
the  frontier  of  the  advancing  civilization  of  the 
American  people.  Its  ministers  and  congrega- 
tions have  been  essential  factors  in  securing  the 
moral  and  spiritual  as  well  as  the  material  welfare 
of  the  Republic.  Its  influence  has  been  decided 
upon  the  political  interests  of  the  land,  for  both 
the  Church  and  the  nation  are  direct  products 
of  the  great  Protestant  Reformation.  The  Church 
has  furnished  Revolutionary  leaders  such  as 
John  Witherspoon,  and  also  Presidents  of  the 
United  States,  such  as  Andrew  Jackson,  Abraham 
Lincoln,  Benjamin  Harrison,  Grover  Cleveland, 
Theodore  Roosevelt  and  Woodrow  Wilson.  In 
heathen  lands  the  Church  has  exerted  a  quiet 
but  mighty  influence  in  elevating  the  stand- 
dards  of  morality,  in  sanctifying  the  family  rela- 
tion, in  introducing  the  element  of  fraternity, 
and  above  all  in  bringing  to  bear  upon  great 
masses  of  men  and  women  the  divine  power  which 
accompanies  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  Whether 
at  home  or  abroad,  the  Church  has  been,  under 
God,  in  all  the  relations  in  which  human  beings 
stand  each  to  the  other,  and  in  all  the  aspirations 
of  humanity,  both  for  this  world  and  the  world 
to  come,  a  savor  of  life  unto  life. 

The   Church,    also,    as    its   history   evidences, 

is  strong  in  its  Scriptural  creed  and  its  popular 

sympathies;    strong  also   in  its   relation  to   the 

history  and  development  of  the  land  in  which 

[791 


A   CONCISE   HISTORY    OF 

God  has  placed  it;  strong,  in  addition,  in  its  hold 
upon  the  influential  elements  in  the  diverse  popu- 
lation of  the  Republic;  strong,  further,  in  num- 
bers and  in  the  material,  intellectual  and  moral 
resources  under  its  control.  It  possesses  noble 
principles,  historic  prestige,  far-reaching  in- 
fluence, multiplied  resources.  For  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  America  is  but  another  name  for 
opportunity,  and  if  it  would  rise  in  the  present 
to  the  level  of  its  providential  privileges,  then, 
with  all  charity  toward  other  denominations  of 
Christians,  it  should  devote  its  great  resources, 
both  of  men  and  means,  to  the  wide  dissemination 
of  the  truths  which  it  maintains,  and  for  the 
largest  possible  development  of  its  own  institu- 
tions. Loyalty  to  the  Presbyterian  system  in- 
volves loyalty  to  its  widespread  agencies;  de- 
mands a  persistent,  resolute,  aggressive  movement 
for  the  meeting  in  full,  along  denominational 
lines,  of  denominational  responsibilities.  It  is 
along  these  lines  that  the  Presbyterian  Church 
will  vindicate  to  the  world  its  right  to  exist  as  a 
Church,  that  it  will  evidence  clearly  that  it  has  a 
mission  in  the  earth,  that  it  will  rise  to  the  full 
height  both  of  opportunity  and  responsibility,  and 
that  it  will  effectively  aid  in  the  extension  and 
final  victory  of  the  Redeemer's  Kingdom. 


[80 


INDEX 


Abingdon  Presbytery,  43. 

Adopting  Act,  23. 

.\lexander,  Archibald,  49. 

Alliance  of  Reformed 
Churches,  66. 

American  Board,  Foreign 
Missions,  53. 

American  Home  Missionary 
Society,  55. 

American  Independence,  33, 
41. 

Andrews,  Jedidiah,  18,  20,  21, 
26,  54. 

Annapolis,  10. 

Atlantic  Siymod,  69. 

Aubm-n  Seminary,  49. 

Associate  Reformed  Presby- 
terian Synod,  8. 

Baltimore  Presbytery,  43. 
Bancroft,  George,  42. 
Baptism,  infant,  12. 
Barbadoes  Company,  18. 
Baxter,  Richard,  10. 
Beale,  Capt.  Ninian,  10. 
Biddle  University,  49. 
Bloomfield  Seminary,  49. 
Boards,  names  and  dates,  75. 
Bolton,  Robert,  9. 
Boudinot,  Elias,  41. 
Boyd,  John,  20. 
Brainerd,    David   and   John, 

50. 
Brewster,  William,  11. 

Caledonia  Presbytery,  14. 


Calendar,  change  in,  19. 

California,  Q5. 

Camp  meetings,  48. 

Carlisle  Presbytery,  43. 

Carolinas,  Synod  of,  43. 

Catechisms,  23,  24,  35. 

Centenary  Fund,  66. 

Christian  colleges,  77. 

Cliristian  Reformed  Church, 
7. 

Church  Cooperation  and 
Union,  Committee,  68,  69. 

Church  Erection  Board,  58, 
76. 

Church,  Growth  of,  29,  50, 
51,  65,  78. 

Church  Government,  Prin- 
ciples of,  37. 

Church,  Independence  of,  24, 

Church  membership,  terms 
of,  39. 

Church  and  State,  24,  25,  35. 

Civil  Magistrate,  35. 

College  Board,  66. 

Confession  of  Faith,  8,  23, 
24,  29,  35,  41,  64,  68,  70. 

Congregational  Associations, 
55. 

Congregationalism,  24,  32, 
34. 

Connecticut,  State  of,  12,  13, 
24,  45. 

Connecticut,  General  Associ- 
ation, 32,  44,  46. 

Constitution  of  church  adopt- 
ed, 34. 


81 


INDEX 


Constitution,  Federal,  in- 
fluence on,  40. 

Continental  Congress,  33. 

Cornbury,  Lord,  17. 

Council  of  Reformed 
Churches,  69. 

Covenanters,  17,  42. 

Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church,  8,  48. 

Cumberland  Presbytery,  48. 

Darien,  Isthmus  of,  14. 

Davies,  Samuel,  20,  29. 

Deaconess,  office  of,  74. 

Declaration  and  Testimony, 
61. 

Denton,  Richard,  11,  12,  54. 

Decatur  Assembly,  68. 

Des  Moines  Assembly,  68. 

Dickinson,  Jonathan,  28,  54. 

Divisions,  26,  27,  48,  56. 

Doctrinal  system,  36. 

Dort,  Canons  of,  8. 

Doughty,  Francis,  10,  11,  17, 
24. 

Dubuque  Seminary,  49. 

Dutch  Calvinists,  12. 

Dutchess  County,  Presby- 
tery, 30,  43. 

Education,  Board  of,  es- 
tablished, 53,  54,  76. 

Education,  beginnings  of,  31, 
53. 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  20. 

Elizabeth,  N.  J.,  church,  13, 
28. 

Elizabeth  River,  Va.,  9. 

England,  9. 


Episcopalians,  16,  17.  32,  34, 

42. 
Evan,  David,  15. 
Evangelistic  Committee,   67, 

77. 
Executive  Commissions,  72. 

Fairfield,  N.  J.,  church,  13. 

Fatalism,  70. 

Federal     Coimcil,     churches, 

69. 
Federal  Union,  41. 
Foreign  Missions,  early  work, 

52,  53. 

Foreign  Missions,  Board  of, 

53,  75. 

Freedmen's  Board,  60,  75. 
French  churches,  8,  14. 
Freehold,  N.  J.,  church,  13. 

Gardiner,  John,  20. 

General  Assembly  as  judica- 
tory, 38;  basis  of  repre- 
sentation, 43;  relation  to 
Church,  44;  the  first,  43; 
Centennial,  66. 

Glasgow  and  Ayr,  Synod  of, 
17. 

Government,  church,  37,  64. 

Great  Valley,  Pa.,  Church  of, 
15. 

Growth  of  Church,  29,  50, 
51,  65,  78. 

Hall,  James,  50. 
Hamilton,  Alexander,  41. 
Hampton,  John,  20. 
Hanover  Presbytery,  29,  43. 
Hartford  North  Association, 
Declaration  of,  45. 


82 


INDEX 


Harvard  College,  18,  26. 
Heidelberg  Catechism,  9. 
Hempstead,  Long  Island,  12. 
Hill,  Matthew,  10. 
Hodge,  Charles,  27. 
Holland,  7. 
Home  Missions,  Board  of,  52, 

58,  75. 
Home   Missions,    beginnings 

of,  50,  52. 
Horton,  Azariah,  52. 
Huguenots,  8,  14,  42. 

Infants,  salvation  of,  70. 
Ireland,  11,  22. 

Jamaica,  N.  Y.,  12. 
Judicial  commissions,  72. 

Kamiah,  Church,  Oregon,  65. 
Kentucky,  revival,  47. 
Kentucky  Seminary,  49. 

Laggan  Presbytery,  15. 
Lane  Seminary,  49. 
Lewes  Presbytery,  43. 
Lexington  Presbytery,  43. 
Liberty,   cixnl   and   religious, 

16. 
Lincoln  University,  49. 
Lindley,  John,  51. 
Log  College,  26. 
Londonderry,  17. 
Long  Island  Presbytery,  21. 
Londonderry  Presbytery,  22. 
Lord,  Joseph,  14. 

McCormick  Seminary,  49. 
MacNish,  George,  20,  21. 


Madison,  James,  41. 
Makemie,    Francis,    11,    15, 

17,  10,  20,  54. 
Maryland,  10,  15. 
Massachusetts,  24,  45. 
Mecklenburgh      Declaration, 

33. 
Membership,  terms  of,  39. 
Memorial  Fund,  Reunion,  64. 
Men's  Work,  Committee  on, 

71,  77. 
Ministerial  Qualifications, 

standards  of,  54. 
Ministerial  Relief,  see  Relief. 
Ministerial      Sustentation 

Fund,  72. 
Minneapolis  Assembly,  64. 
Mississippi  territory,  50. 
Mississippi    valley,    progress, 

64. 

Nantes,  edict  of,  14. 
Neshaminy,  26. 
New  Amsterdam,  12. 
Newark,  N.  J.,  church,  13. 
New  Brunswick  Presbytery, 

27,  43. 
New  Castle,  Del.,  church,  13. 
New  Castle   Presbytery,   21, 

43. 
New   England,    colonists   in, 

11. 
New  England,    Presbyterians 

in,  47. 
New  England,  Synod,  22. 
New  Hampshire  Association, 

45. 
New  York,  Presbytery,  43. 
New  York,  Synod,  27,  63. 
New  York  City,  17. 


83 


INDEX 


New  York  and  New  Jersey 

Synod,  43. 
North   and   South    Carolina, 

Presbyterians  in,  13. 

Old  and  New  Side,  2G,  27,  29. 
Old  and  New  School,  5G,  63. 
Omaha  Seminary,  49. 
Orange  Presbytery,  30,  43. 
Oregon,  65. 

Pacific  Coast,  early  missions, 
65. 

Pliiladelphia,  City,  18;  Pres- 
bytery, 21,  43;  first  church 
18;  second  church,  43; 
Synod,  43. 

Plan  of  Union,  32,  46,  55. 

Plymouth  Pilgrims,  11. 

Presbyterian  Church,  South, 
8.  60,  61,  66. 

Presbyterianism,  American, 
origins,  7. 

Presbytery,  the  first,  19. 

Presbytery  as  a  judicatory, 
38. 

Princeton  College,  28. 

Princeton  Theological  Sem- 
inary, 48. 

Privileges  and  Duties,  78. 

Publication  and  Sabbath- 
School  Work,  Board  of,  58, 
76;   beginnings  of,  31. 

Publications,  official,  77. 

Puritans,  9,  10,  16,  42. 

Redstone  Presbytery,  43. 
Rehoboth  Church,  15. 
Reformed  (Dutch)  Church  in 
America,  7. 


Reformed  (German)  Church 
in  the  U.  S.,  7. 

Reformed  faith,  brief  state- 
ment, 71. 

Reformed  Presbyterian 
Church,  8. 

Relief  and  Sustentation, 
Board,  54,  66,  76;  Cen- 
tenary Fund,  59;  New 
funds,  76. 

Reunion,  Old  and  New  Sides, 
29;  Old  and  New  Schools, 
63;  Cumberland,  68. 

Reunion  fund,  64. 

Re\asion  of  Confession,  70. 

Revivals,  26,  46,  47. 

Revolution  of  1776,  42. 

Rice,  David,  46,  47. 

Robinson,  John,  11,  12. 

Rocky  Mountains,  65 

Rodgers,  John,  43. 

St.  Louis  Assembly,  63. 

Salem  Presbytery,  22. 

San  Francisco  Seminary, 
49. 

Scotch-Irish,  15,  16. 

Scotland,  church  of,  17,  75. 

Session,  Church,  38,  39.       . 

Settlements,  first,  7. 

Severn  River,  10. 

Slavery,  60. 

Smith,  William,  20. 

Snow  Hill  Chiu-ch,  15. 

Snow  Hill  Presbytery,  21. 

Southold,  N.  Y.,  church,  13. 

South  Carolina  Presbytery 
43. 

Spring,  (rardiner,  resolu- 
tions, 61. 


[84] 


INDEX 


State  and  Church,  relation 
between,  24,  25,  35. 

Stevens,  William,  15, 

Stobo,  Archibald,  14. 

Stoddard,  James,  20. 

Suffolk  Presbytery,  43. 

Synod,  General,  organized, 
21;  and  American  inde- 
pendence,  33. 

Synod,  as   judicatory,  38. 

Taylor,  Nathaniel,  20. 
Temperance,  Board  of,  66. 
Tennent,        Gilbert        and 

WUliam,  26. 
Theological  Seminaries,  48. 
Traill,  William,  11. 
Twentieth      Century      Fund 

Committee,  67. 

Ulster  Presbyterians,  42. 
Union.     See  Reunion. 
Union  Seminary,  N.  Y.,  49. 
Union  Seminary,  Va.,  49. 
United  Presbyterian  Church, 

8. 
United  S\Tiod,  60. 
United    States,    Constitution 

of,  40;   Presidents  of,  79. 

Vacancy  and  Supply  Com- 
mittee, 71. 


Vermont,     General     Associa- 
tion, 45. 
Virginia,  Synod  of,  43. 

Wandsworth  Presbytery,  9. 
Washington,  George,  42. 
Welsh  Chm-ches,  8,  15,  21. 
Western  Foreign  Missionary 

Society,  56. 
West  German  Synod,  69. 
Westminster   Standards,    23, 

63,  68. 
Whitaker,  Alexander,  9. 
^^Tiitefield,  George,  26,  27,  29. 
WTiitman,  Marcus,  65. 
Williams,  Roger,  24. 
Wilson,  John,  20. 
Witherspoon,    John,    30,    33, 

41,  43,  79. 
Woman,  place  in  the  church, 

73. 
Women's  Boards,  73,  75. 
Woodbridge,   N.   J.,   church, 

13. 
Worcester,  Mass.,  22. 
Word  of  God,  37. 
Worsliip,    Directory    of,    39; 

Book  of  common,  71. 

Yale  College,  26. 
Yard,  Joseph,  20. 
Yorkshire,  England,  11. 
Youngs,  John,  13. 


1851 


ADDRESS 

ON  THE 

200™  ANNIVERSARY 

OF  THE 

GENERAL  SYNOD 

OF  THE 

PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 
IN  THE  U.  S.  A. 

DELIVERED  AT  THE 

GENERAL  ASSEMBLY 

Dallas,  Texas,  May  18,  1917 

BY 

WM.  HENRY  ROBERTS,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

Stated  Clerk  of  the  General  Assembly 


Printed  by  order  of  the 
General  Assembly 


PHILADELPHIA 

PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION 

1917 


ADDRESS 

ON  THE  TWO  HUNDREDTH 

ANNIVERSARY 


THE  Synod  which  was  estabhshed  at  Phila- 
delphia, Pennsylvania,  in  September,  1716, 
by  the  General  Presbytery,  was,  in  a  dis- 
tinct and  positive  sense,  the  Synod  of  the  Ameri- 
can Presbyterian  Church, for  no  other  Presbyterian 
Church  then  existed  in  the  territory  now  included 
within  the  United  States  of  America.  All  other 
Churches  of  the  Presbyterian  faith  and  order  in 
America  are  later  developments. 

As  the  governing  body  of  the  Church,  the  Synod 
was,  in  many  particulars,  unique,  and  it  is  upon 
these  special  features  that  emphasis  will  be  laid 
in  this  address.  The  principal  facts  of  the 
history  are  discussed  in  quite  a  number  of  volumes, 
and  have  been  dealt  with  recently  in  various 
pubUcations,  both  in  newspaper  and  book  form. 

It  is  important  in  connection  wiith  this  celebra- 
tion to  note,  first  of  all,  that  it  is  exactly  one 
hundred  years  since  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
the  United  States  of  America  began,  through  the 
General  Assembly,  active  work  in  Louisiana  and 
other  parts  of  the  Southwest.  Rev.  Sylvester 
Lamed  was  appointed  as  a  missionary  to  the 
189  1 


TWO   HUNDREDTH   ANNIVERSARY 

Southwest  by  the  General  Assembly  meeting  at 
Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  in  May,  1817.  As 
was  then  the  custom,  the  Assembly  named  the 
missionaries  directly.  Mr.  Larned  is  the  forty- 
second  person  in  a  list  of  forty-five  appointed  in 
1817,  and  the  record  tells  us  that  his  appointment 
was  made  * 'especially  with  a  view  to  establish  the 
ministry  of  the  gospel  in  the  city  of  New  Orleans; 
and  in  traveling  to  that  city,  he  will  commence  his 
route  from  Detroit,  pass  through  Vincennes, 
Kaskaskia,  and  St.  Louis."  Mr.  Larned  was 
installed  as  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  of  New  Orleans  in  1818  and  died  in  1820. 
He  was  the  first  Presbyterian  pastor  of  that 
important  center. 

Great  truly  has  been  the  growth  of  the  Church 
during  the  last  hundred  years,  and  large  the  bless- 
ing which  God  has  sent  down  upon  the  faithful 
labors  of  those  devoted  missionaries  who  first  car- 
ried the  gospel  through  the  entire  Southwest.  Such 
a  one  for  instance  as  James  Hall  served  on  his 
mission  seven  months  and  thirteen  days,  and 
received  eighty-six  dollars  for  his  support.  It  is 
because  of  such  lives  of  sacrificial  labor  that  this 
Assembly,  the  Hneal  successor  of  the  Synod  of 
1717,  is  privileged  to  meet  in  one  of  the  principal 
cities  of  the  Southwest  and  to  be  the  guest  of 
Churches  which  are  loyal  to  the  faith  and  tradi- 
tions of  the  fathers. 

The  first  feature  to  be  emphasized  in  connection 

[90] 


TWO    HUNDREDTH   ANNIVERSARY 

with  the  history  of  the  General  Synod  is  that  it 
was  the  product  of  a  Christian  Church  born  on 
American  soil.  It  was  constituted  by  a  Pres- 
bytery which  was  self -organized.  Its  ministers, 
it  is  true,  had  been  ordained  to  their  high  calling 
by  various  Church  bodies  in  Scotland,  in  Ireland, 
and  in  New  England  (there  were  two  graduates 
of  Harvard),  but  no  permission  or  authority  for 
the  organization  of  the  Presbytery  was  requested 
from  any  existing  ecclesiastical  body.  Ordinarily 
speaking,  it  is  true  that  the  Reformed  Churches 
of  Europe,  notably  the  Church  of  Scotland,  are 
to  be  regarded  as  the  sources  of  the  influences 
which  produced  the  American  Presbyterian 
Church.  In  a  vital  sense,  the  historic  Church  of 
Scotland  is  a  mother  to  all  the  Presbyterian 
Churches  of  the  United  States,  and  other  Churches, 
such  as  the  Reformed  Churches  of  Holland, 
France,  Germany,  and  England,  may  also  be 
regarded  as  standing  in  a  parental  relation  to 
them.  But  it  is  to  be  emphasized  that  the  one 
centrally  organized  body  of  believers  which  has 
had  the  longest  continuous  existence  on  American 
soil,  was  self -organized,  ministers  and  ruling  elders 
of  different  particular  churches  coming  together 
for  the  purpose,  filled  with  the  desire  to  do  their 
duty  as  Christian  men.  The  Synod,  therefore, 
represented  in  a  distinct  manner  those  tendencies 
in  modern  life,  both  ecclesiastical  and  civil,  which 
have  come  to  be  designated  by  the  word  "Ameri- 
[91] 


TWO   HUNDREDTH    ANNIVERSARY 

canism."  That  word,  invented  by  John  Wither- 
spoon,  stands  for  one  thing — for  the  liberty  of 
Christians  to  organize  for  cooperative  work. 
Americans  stand  upon  their  own  feet. 

A  second  feature  connected  with  the  history 
of  the  Synod  is  the  fact  that  at  its  first  meeting 
it  proceeded  to  organize  the  work  of  the 
Church  with  a  view  to  the  future.  The  men 
who  constituted  of  their  own  volition  both  the 
General  Presbytery  and  the  General  Synod 
were  men  of  vision.  They  were  mentally  of 
the  folk  who  believe  that  where  there  is  no 
vision  the  people  perish,  and  they  therefore 
began  to  lay  foundations  for  a  growing  Church 
in  the  midst  of  a  people  with  a  future.  They 
established  in  1717  a  fund  for  pious  uses  and 
took  steps  to  further  the  work  of  missions. 
They  also  appointed  every  year  an  Executive 
Commission  with  power.  These  acts  were  the 
initial  steps  in  organized  benevolence.  In 
many  other  ways,  as  the  records  show,  from 
year  to  year,  they  evidenced  by  their  acts  that 
they  realized  the  importance  of  the  trust  which 
had  been  committed  to  them  of  God.  They 
were  men  equal  to  the  varying  situations  of 
their  lives,  ready  for  any  work  which  com- 
mended itself  to  them  and  having  the  foresight 
which  is  indispensable  in  connection  with  all 
human  affairs,  if  success  is  to  crown  earnest 
and  systematic  effort.  Above  all  other  things, 
[92] 


TWO   HUNDREDTH    ANNIVERSARY 

they  were  men  who  relied  upon  the  divine  guid- 
ance, believing  that  God  is,  and  that  faith  in 
God,  whatever  the  outward  conditions,  is  the 
substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the  evidence  of 
things  not  seen. 

A  third  feature  of  the  history  shows  that  the 
Synod  realized  that  the  strength  of  a  Christian 
Church  is  its  possession  of  a  distinctive  type  of 
Christian  doctrine.  From  the  beginning  of  the 
organization  of  the  American  Presbyterian 
Church,  insistence  was  placed  upon  the  fact 
that  the  persons  associated  therein  were  in  full 
sympathy  with  the  creeds  of  the  Reformed 
Churches  throughout  the  world.  The  Synod 
did  not  attempt  to  frame  new  standards  of 
doctrine,  for  they  realized  that  they  were  part 
of  English-speaking  Christendom,  and  that 
Evangelical  Christians  generally  had  reached 
a  practically  unanimous  conclusion  as  to  the 
systematic  form  of  Bible  doctrine,  in  the 
Standards  framed  in  the  Jerusalem  Chamber, 
Westminster  Abbey,  London,  England,  by  the 
Assembly  of  Divines  in  1643-1648.  The  West- 
minster Standards  were  not  only  Biblical  but 
also  ecumenical  in  a  true  sense,  and  as  such 
were  formally  adopted  at  the  meeting  of  the 
Synod  in  1729,  and  subscription  thereto  was 
required  from  that  year  by  all  ministers  and 
licentiates.  The  members  of  Synod  did  this 
of  their  own  free  will,  and  they  did  it  to  make 
[93] 


TWO   HUNDREDTH   ANNIVERSARY 

clear  that  in  doctrine  as  well  as  in  practice  the 
American  Presbyterian  Church  was  a  part  of 
that  great  divine  force  known  as  the  Protestant 
Reformation,  which  steadily  had  been  reorganiz- 
ing upon  New  Testament  lines  both  the  thought 
and  life  of  the  Christian  world.  The  Synod 
established  at  Philadelphia  in  1717  was  one 
result  of  Luther's  work  at  Wittenberg  in  1517. 
The  central  thought  of  the  Reformation  was 
and  is  the  great  doctrine  of  the  sovereignty  of 
God's  Word  over  human  thought  and  life. 
Creed  and  life  are  inseparable.  Every  intelli- 
gent life  is  invariably  the  expression  of  some 
sort  of  creed.  And  that  creed  is  truest  and 
that  life  strongest  which  rests  upon  a  sovereign 
God,  is  instinct  as  a  result  with  the  divine  life, 
and  is  guided  by  the  Word  of  God. 

The  General  Synod  in  the  year  1729  took 
action  in  favor  of  the  independence  of  the 
Church,  by  the  denial  of  the  authority  of 
the  State  over  the  Church.  Chapter  xxiii  of  the 
Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  deals  with 
the  power  of  the  civil  magistrate,  and  the  Synod 
denied  to  the  civil  magistrate  what  the  West- 
minster Assembly  permitted — a  controlling 
power  over  Synods  with  respect  to  "the  exer- 
cise of  their  ministerial  authority."  It  also 
denied  to  the  civil  magistrate  the  "power  to 
persecute  any  for  their  religion."  These  were 
notable  acts  on  the  part  of  the  Synod,  appearing 
[94] 


TWO    HUNDREDTH    ANNIVERSARY 

to  be  the  first  declaration,  by  an  organized 
Church  on  American  soil,  of  the  freedom  of  the 
Church  from  control  by  the  State.  In  several 
colonies  the  Anglican  Episcopal  Church  was 
the  establishment.  Even  in  New  England  at 
this  time  Church  and  State  were  united.  Con- 
gregationalism, as  first  established  in  the  col- 
onies, was  a  chain  whose  links  were  steel.  An 
organization  of  so-called  independent  Churches, 
its  ministers  were  held  to  orthodoxy  and  its 
members  to  right  living,  by  the  strong  arm  of 
the  civil  law.  It  was  the  civil  magistrate,  at 
the  call  of  the  Church,  who  drove  out  from 
Massachusetts,  Roger  Williams  the  Baptist, 
and  Francis  Doughty  the  Presbyterian.  The 
Congregational  was  the  established  Church  in 
Connecticut  until  1818,  and  in  Massachusetts 
until  1834,  and  even  to-day  in  three  New  Eng- 
land States  there  are  legal  provisions  for  the 
support  of  Congregational  Churches  by  taxa- 
tion. To  the  Presbyterian  Church  must  the 
honor  be  given  of  the  first  definite  statement, 
by  an  organized  body  on  American  soil,  of  what 
to-day  is  recognized  as  the  distinctively  Ameri- 
can and  true  doctrine  of  the  right  relation 
between  Church  and  State.  That  relation  is 
expressed  in  the  clear-cut  statement,  "A  free 
Church  in  a  free  State." 

It  is  natural,  in  connection  with  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  to  pass  from  the  thought  of 
[95] 


TWO    HUNDREDTH    ANNIVERSARY 

religious  liberty  to  that  of  evangelistic  and 
missionary  work.  The  General  Synod  of  the 
Church,  like  the  General  Presbytery,  was  full 
of  an  aggressive  evangelistic  spirit.  It  pro- 
vided for  missionary  work  in  destitute  places 
at  its  first  meeting,  and  in  1719  indicated  its 
definite  realization  of  the  value  of  missions  in 
cities,  by  voting  the  larger  part  of  a  sum  of 
money  received  from  Scotland  to  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  in  New  York  City. 
Knowing  that  the  great  test  of  a  Church's 
loyalty  to  Christ  is  its  earnestness  in  the  work 
of  the  salvation  of  souls,  the  Synod  gave  its 
warm  support  to  revival  movements.  George 
Whitefield  had  no  better  friends  in  the  American 
Colonies  than  the  ministers  and  members  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  the  first  division 
in  the  Church  was  brought  about  by  differences 
of  opinion  as  to  the  need  and  value  of  revivals 
of  religion.  An  additional  cause  of  the  division 
was  the  question  as  to  whether  in  the  extra- 
ordinary circumstances  which  had  arisen, 
through  the  blessing  of  God  upon  the  labors  of 
Jonathan  Edwards  and  George  Whitefield, 
persons  might  be  ordained  to  the  ministry  who 
had  not  received  a  full  education.  The  division 
lasted,  however,  only  a  short  time,  1743-1758, 
and  the  revival  and  missionary  spirit,  instead  of 
being  lessened  by  the  controversy,  was  deepened 
and  intensified.  As  Benjamin  Harrison,  Presi- 
[96] 


TWO    HUNDREDTH    ANNIVERSARY 

dent  of  the  United  States,  well  said  of  the 
Church,  "Though  it  has  made  no  boast  or  shout, 
it  has  yet  been  an  aggressive  Church;  it  has 
been  a  missionary  Church  from  the  beginning." 
The  American  Presbyterian  Church  was  in  a 
strong  sense  a  patriotic  Church.  The  opening 
of  the  Revolutionary  struggle  found  the  Pres- 
byterian ministers  and  churches,  to  a  man,  on 
the  side  of  the  colonies.  In  1775  the  General 
Synod  issued  a  pastoral  letter,  an  extract  from 
which  indicates  the  spirit  prevailing  in  the 
Church,  and  reads :  *'Be  careful  to  maintain  the 
union  which  at  present  subsists  through  all  the 
colonies.  In  particular,  as  the  Continental 
Congress,  now  sitting  at  Philadelphia,  consists 
of  delegates  chosen  by  the  body  of  the  people, 
let  them  not  only  be  treated  with  respect  and 
encouraged  in  their  difficult  service,  not  only 
let  your  prayers  be  offered  up  to  God  for  his 
direction  in  their  proceedings,  but  adhere 
firmly  to  their  resolutions,  and  let  it  be  seen 
that  they  are  able  to  bring  out  the  whole 
strength  of  this  vast  country  to  carry  them  into 
execution."  Contemporary  with  this  letter 
of  the  Synod  was  the  famous  Mecklenburgh 
Declaration  of  Independence,  renouncing  all 
allegiance  to  Great  Britain,  passed  by  a  con- 
vention in  western  North  Carolina  composed 
of  delegates  who  were  mostly  Presbyterians, 
thus  forestalling  the  action  of  the  Colonial 
[97] 


TWO    HUNDREDTH    ANNIVERSARY 

Congress  in  the  same  line  by  more  than  a  year. 
Further,  in  the  sessions  of  the  Colonial  Congress, 
the  influence  of  no  delegate  exceeded  that 
wielded  by  Rev.  John  Witherspoon,  president 
of  Princeton  College,  the  only  clerical  signer 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  "a  man 
Scotch  in  accent  and  strength  of  conviction, 
but  American  at  heart."  The  American  Pres- 
byterian Church  never  faltered  in  its  devotion 
to  the  cause  of  the  independence  of  these 
United  States;  its  ministers  and  members 
periled  all  for  their  support,  being  ready,  with 
Witherspoon,  to  die,  if  need  be,  in  defense  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty. 

The  close  relation  between  the  Presbyterian 
Church  and  the  nation  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
the  Constitution  of  the  Church  was  adopted 
in  the  same  year  in  which  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  was  framed.  The  influence 
which  the  Presbyterian  Church  exercised  for 
the  securing  of  unity  between  the  colonies  was 
zealously  employed,  at  the  close  of  the  war  for 
independence,  to  bring  them  into  a  closer  union. 
The  main  hindrance  to  the  formation  of  the 
Federal  Union,  as  it  now  exists,  lay  in  the 
reluctance  of  many  of  the  States  to  yield  to  a 
general  government  any  of  the  powers  which 
they  possessed.  The  Federal  party,  in  its 
advocacy  of  closer  union,  had  no  more  earnest 
and  eloquent  supporters  than  John  Wither- 
[98] 


TWO   HUNDREDTH   ANNIVERSARY 

spoon,  Elias  Boudinot,  and  other  Presbyterian 
members  of  the  Continental  Congress.  Sander- 
son, in  his  **Lives  of  the  Signers  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,'*  states  that  "Wither- 
spoon  strongly  combated  the  opinion  expressed 
in  Congress  that  a  lasting  federation  among 
the  States  was  impracticable,  and  he  warmly 
maintained  the  absolute  necessity  of  union  to 
impart  vigor  and  success  to  the  measures  of 
government."  In  this  he  was  aided  by  many 
who  had  come  to  the  views  which  he,  as  a  Pres- 
byterian, had  always  maintained.  Slowly  but 
surely,  ideas  of  goverziment  in  harmony  with 
those  of  the  Westminster  Standards,  were 
accepted  as  formative  principles  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  and  that  by  many 
persons  not  connected  with  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  Among  these  were  the  great  leaders 
in  the  Constitutional  Convention:  James  Madi- 
son, a  graduate  of  Princeton,  who  sat  as  a 
student  under  John  Witherspoon;  Alexander 
Hamilton,  of  Scotch  parentage,  whose  familiar- 
ity with  Presbyterian  government  is  fully 
attested;  and  above  all  George  Washington, 
who,  though  an  Episcopalian,  had  so  great  a 
regard  for  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  its 
services  to  the  country  that  he  not  only  partook 
of  Holy  Communion  with  its  members,  but  also 
gave  public  expression  to  his  high  esteem. 
It  is  not  that  the  claim  is  made  that  the  principles 
[99] 


TWO   HUNDREDTH   ANNIVERSARY 

of  Presbyterian  government  were  the  sole  source 
from  which  sprang  the  government  of  the  Re- 
pubhe,  but  it  is  asserted  that  mightiest  among  the 
forces  which  made  the  colonies  a  nation  were  the 
governmental  principles  found  in  the  West- 
minster Standards,  and  that  the  Presbyterian 
Church  taught,  practiced,  and  maintained  in 
fullness,  first  in  this  land,  that  form  of  government 
in  accordance  with  which  the  Repubhc  has  been 
organized.  The  historian  Bancroft  says,  "The 
Revolution  of  1776,  so  far  as  it  was  affected  by 
rehgion,  was  a  Presbyterian  measure.  It  was  the 
natural  outgrowth  of  the  principles  which  the 
Presbyterianism  of  the  Old  World  planted  in  her 
sons,  the  Enghsh  Puritans,  the  Scotch  Covenant- 
ers, the  French  Huguenots,  the  Dutch  Calvinists, 
and  the  Presbyterians  of  Ulster." 

Another  feature  of  the  history  of  the  Synod 
was  its  deep  interest  in  education.  Of  the  seven 
ministers  of  the  original  Presbytery,  six  were 
graduates  of  universities  and  colleges.  The 
interest  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  education, 
however,  was  not  solely  because  of  its  behef  in  an 
educated  ministry.  Presbyterians  taught  by  the 
Holy  Scriptures  make  religion  a  personal  matter, 
not  between  a  man  and  the  Church,  but  between 
the  individual  soul  and  God,  and  this  necessitates 
personal  knowledge  on  the  part  of  human  beings 
of  God's  Word,  God's  law  for  human  life.  Educa- 
tion in  religious  truth  is  therefore  a  cardinal  prin- 
[100] 


TWO   HUNDREDTH   ANNIVERSARY 

ciple  for  Presbyterians,  and  the  steps  are  easy  and 
swift  to  secular  and  popular  education.  This 
logical  connection  between  Calvinism  and  educa- 
tion is  recognized  by  Bancroft,  who  says  Calvin 
was  the  first  founder  of  the  public-school  system. 
It  is  also  shown  by  the  history  of  academic  and 
popular  education.  Presbyterian  Scotland  es- 
tablished the  first  schools  for  popular  education. 
Harvard  and  Yale  universities  were  founded  by 
men  who  believed  in  the  Westminster  Confession. 
The  Presbyterian  Synod  itself  founded  the  Log 
College  and  its  successor,  Princeton  University. 
Educat  on  is  one  of  the  foundation  stones  of  both 
Church  and  nation.  Then  honor  to  whom  honor 
is  due.  Honor  to  the  men  who  believed  in  the 
Westminster  Confession,  who  under  its  influence 
built  colleges  rather  than  cathedrals,  and  who 
believed  both  in  educated  ministers  and  an 
educated  people! 

The  peculiar  and  distinctive  feature  of  the 
history  of  the  General  Synod,  above  all  other 
features,  was  that  it  stood  out  as  the  leading 
champion  of  true  popular  government.  Several 
other  important  Churches  held  to  Calvinistic 
doctrine,  but  the  Synod  was  the  chief  representa- 
tive, during  its  entire  existence,  of  the  government 
of  the  Church  by  authoritative  representative 
assemblies.  Presbyterianism  is  a  form  of  Church 
government  by  representative  assemblies  com- 
posed of  Presbyters,  and  so  arranged  as  to  reahze 
[101] 


TWO    HUNDREDTH    ANNIVERSARY 

the  visible  unity  of  the  whole  Church.  It  is  a 
government  by  representatives  with  authority, 
as  over  against  Congregationalism  on  the  one 
hand,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  against  prelacy. 
Independency,  as  a  form  of  Church  polity,  vests 
government  in  the  congregation  or  the  brother- 
hood of  each  particular  church,  and  prelacy 
centers  control  in  single  men.  There  is  in  this 
matter  of  representative  government  an  exact 
parallel  between  the  government  of  the  United 
States  and  that  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
The  Congress  of  the  United  States  is  an  assembly 
of  representatives  of  the  people,  and  they  are 
responsible  to  the  people,  not  in  the  sense  of  the 
local  constituency  that  elected  them,  but  in  the 
sense  of  the  entire  sovereign  people  who  es- 
tablished the  Constitution.  The  Constitution 
of  the  nation  opens  with  the  words,  *'We,  the 
people  of  the  United  States."  In  the  Church  the 
General  Assembly  is  the  supreme  governing  body 
and  represents,  as  the  Constitution  of  the  Church 
states,  *'in  one  body  all  the  particular  churches 
of  the  denomination."  This  idea  is  not  modern. 
John  Owen,  the  great  commentator,  in  his  "True 
Nature  of  a  Gospel  Church,"  states  that  a  single 
congregation  is  to  be  governed  by  an  eldership  or 
Presbytery,  that  is,  a  bench  or  college  of  Presby- 
ters, chosen  by  the  people  as  their  representatives, 
not  as  their  deputies,  chosen  not  to  govern  accord- 
ing to  the  will  of  the  people  but  according  to  the 
[102] 


TWO    HUNDREDTH   ANNIVERSARY 

will  of  Christ,  who  ordained  the  Constitution  of 
the  Church,  created  its  ojQScers,  and  defined  their 
functions.  The  poet  statesman,  John  Milton,  in 
his  work,  **The  Reason  of  Church  Government 
Urged  Against  Prelacy'*  uses  the  following  lan- 
guage concerning  the  General  Assembly:  "Of 
this  General  Assembly  every  parochial  Con- 
sistory is  a  right  homogeneous  and  constituting 
part,  being  in  itself  a  httle  Synod  and  moving  to- 
wards a  General  Assembly  upon  a  higher  basis,  in 
an  even  and  firm  progression,  as  those  small 
squares  in  battle  unite  in  one  great  cube,  the  main 
phalanx,  an  emblem  of  truth  and  steadfastness." 

Presbyterianism  is  not  a  government  by  Pres- 
byters as  Presbyters,  but  by  Presbyters  assembled 
in  Presbyteries.  All  the  courts  of  the  Church  are 
substantially  Presbyteries.  The  same  elements 
are  found  in  all  of  them,  from  the  lowest  to  the 
highest.  Representatives  of  the  whole  Church 
govern  the  representatives  of  each  part,  and  that 
not  by  a  direct  control  of  the  part  but  by  con- 
trolhng  the  power  of  the  part,  and  all  the  local 
Presbyteries  are  combined  by  representatives  into 
one  great  Presbytery,  called  as  a  rule  the  General 
Assembly. 

The  American  Presbyterian  Church  organized 
itself  upon  the  principles  just  stated,  and  con- 
stituted first  a  General  Presbytery,  then  a  General 
Synod  having  under  it  four  local  Presbyteries, 
and  reached  the  consummation  of  its  organiza- 
[103] 


TWO    HUNDREDTH    ANNIVERSARY 

tion  in  1788  in  the  General  Assembly,  which 
''represents  in  one  body  all  the  particular  churches 
of  the  denomination."  The  General  Assembly 
is  a  nation-wide  Presbytery,  as  truly  a  govern- 
ment of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the 
people,  as  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 

It  is  important  further  to  remember  in  this 
connection  that  the  modern  founder  of  repre- 
sentative government  was  John  Calvin.  That 
great  theologiai  was  also  great  as  a  statesman. 
In  his  "Institutes'  he  teaches  the  principles  of 
representative  government,  and  bases  them  upon 
the  Bible. 

Calvin's  "Institutes,"  containing  his  theory  of 
constitutional  resistance  to  tyrants  through 
representative  magistrates,  was  for  centuries  a 
standard  book  among  all  Protestants.  Probably 
no  other  theological  work  was  so  widely  read  and 
so  influential  as  the  "Institutes,"  from  the  time 
of  the  Reformation  to  the  American  Revolution. 
"At  least  seventy-four  editions  in  nine  languages, 
besides  fourteen  abridgments,  appeared  before 
the  Puritan  exodus  to  America,  an  average  of  one 
edition  annually  for  three  generations  Hugue- 
nots, Scots,  Dutchmen,  Walloons,  and  Germans, 
and  an  overwhelming  majority  of  the  American 
colonists  of  the  seventeenth  century,  were  nur- 
tured on  its  political  theories  as  well  as  on  the 
strong  meat  of  its  theology." 

Calvin's  teachings  as  to  popular  government 
[  104  ] 


TWO    HUNDREDTH    ANNIVERSARY 

were  based  upon  his  fundamental  premises  of  the 
absolute  sovereignty  of  God,  and  of  the  resulting 
sovereignty  of  the  Bible  as  the  Word  of  God. 
This  absolute  divine  authority  * 'limited  all  earthly 
princes,'*  and  made  both  king  and  representative 
magistrate  responsible  to  both  God  and  men. 
Calvin  moreover  pictured  that  ''singular  and  truly 
sovereign  power  of  God"  not  as  "idly  beholding 
from  heaven,"  "but  as  holding  the  helm  of  the 
universe." 

Before  his  death  Calvin  had  combined  the 
theory  of  constitutional  resistance  to  tyrants, 
through  ordained  representatives  of  the  people, 
with  another  far-reaching  idea,  that  of  a  funda- 
mental written  law.  He  emphasized  to  the 
modern  world  the  distinct  conception  of  a  written 
constitution  as  an  essential  feature  of  the  govern- 
ment of  a  state. 

Consider  what  God  has  accomplished  through 
these  modern  times  for  representative  constitu- 
tional government!  Think  concisely  upon  the 
advance  made. 

In  1788  the  only  actual  political  federated 
repubhcs  in  existence  were  the  Swiss  Confedera- 
tion and  the  United  States  of  America — about 
six  million  persons  in  all,  and  lacking  all 
resources  except  faith  in  God,  faith  in  the  people, 
and  a  firm  courage. 

If  we  spread  out  a  map  of  the  ^^orld  of  to-day, 
for  the  purpose  of  comparing  the  territorial  extent 
[105] 


TWO   HUNDREDTH   ANNIVERSARY 

of  the  different  kinds  of  governments  existing  at 
the  present,  we  find  that  the  area  covered  by 
repubhcs  occupies  approximately  30,250,000 
square  miles,  or  considerably  more  than  one  half 
the  habitable  surface  of  the  globe. 

If  we  add  the  area  of  the  British  Empire,  the 
spirit  of  whose  government  is  largely  democratic, 
and  whose  "autonomous  colonies,"  as  the  Domin- 
ions are  now  called,  are  virtually  republics,  the 
area  of  free  government  reaches  the  enormous 
total  of  about  41,500  000  square  miles,  or  about 
four  fifths  of  the  inhabited  earth. 

Turning  now  to  the  proportions  of  the  popula- 
tion of  the  globe  under  the  republics  and  under 
other  forms  of  government,  we  find  that  of  the 
total  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  estimated  at 
1,600,000,000,  more  than  850,000,000  are  hving 
under  nominal  republics;  and  if  we  add  the  popu- 
lation of  the  British  Empire,  which  is  called  a 
commonwealth  of  popular  governments,  the  total 
would  be  about  1,250,000,000,  or  more  than 
three  fourths  of  the  human  race.  If  to  these 
areas  and  populations  we  add  those  under  sub- 
stantially constitutional  governments,  excluding 
all  those  under  avowedly  autocratic  rule,  we  find 
only  a  small  fraction  of  the  globe  still  adhering  to 
an  autocratic  system  which  only  a  century  and  a 
quarter  ago  was  practically  universal.  Calvin's 
ideas  of  representative  government  are  winning 
out  all  over  the  world.  And  it  is  most  significant 
[106] 


TWO   HUNDREDTH    ANNIVERSARY 

that  God  has  placed  at  the  head  of  the  American 
Repubhc,  at  this  time  of  stress,  in  this  hour  of 
sharp  conflict  between  democracy  and  autocracy, 
a  man  who  beheves  in  Calvin's  principles.  Presi- 
dent Woodrow  Wilson  is  a  Presbyterian  Ruhng 
Elder. 

The  record  which  we  have  considered  is  one  that 
is  remarkable  for  the  clearness  of  vision  and  the 
breadth  of  spirit  which  characterized  the  founders 
of  the  American  Presbyterian  Church.  From  the 
beginning  they  appeared  to  realize  that  theirs  wa  s 
an  unequaled  opportunity  in  relation  to  the 
political,  moral,  and  spiritual  weKare  of  mankind. 
In  no  particular  were  they  narrow,  short-sighted, 
or  biased  by  mere  material  considerations.  They 
evidently  grasped  the  things  which  are  unseen  and 
eternal,  and  applied  their  spirit  in  the  conduct  of 
the  things  which  are  seen  and  temporal.  The 
purposes  which  animated  them  are  shown  in  a 
letter  written  by  John  Witherspoon  in  1772  to  the 
Committee  of  Dissenters  in  England.  The  ex- 
tract reads:  "We  beg  leave  also  to  inform  you 
that  we  are  collecting  the  state  of  religious 
hberty  in  the  several  colonies  on  this  continent 
and  its  progress  in  each  of  them  from  their  first 
settlement,  which  may  be  capable  of  important 
uses  in  the  grand  struggle  we  or  our  posterity 
may  be  called  to  make  in  this  glorious  cause,  in 
which  the  happiness  of  thousands  yet  unborn  is  so 
deeply  interested." 

[107] 


TWO   HUNDREDTH    ANNIVERSARY 

One  would  almost  think  that  Witherspoon  had 
in  vision  conditions  which  prevail  to-day  through- 
out the  world,  and  we  may  rest  assured  that  he 
had  a  clear  conception  of  what  the  struggle  for 
American  independence  meant  both  for  Ameri- 
cans and  for  humanity.  His  associates  were 
men  of  like  spirit  and  character.  They  united 
loyalty  to  country  with  loyalty  to  the  Church, 
and  read  into  their  conception  of  Christianity 
elevated  ideas  and  purposes  which  gave  them  to 
act,  not  for  a  day,  but  for  all  time.  They  looked 
forward  to  an  hour  when  the  Church  of  God 
should  have  attained  to  its  rightful  authority 
over  human  thought  and  conduct,  and  when 
everywhere  men  should  have  been  enfranchised 
with  the  liberty  which  is  through  Christ  Jesus. 
All  hail  to  the  men  who  were  founders  of  the 
American  Presbyterian  Church,  and  through  it 
promoters  of  true  Hberty-  both  in  Church  and 
State,  and  whose  endeavors  along  moral  and 
rehgious  lines  gave  an  impetus  to  their  influ- 
ence which  has  increased  through  the  passing 
years,  so  that  to-day,  for  all  lovers  of  humanity, 
faith  is  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  and  ours 
is  the  assurance  that  * 'government  of  the  people, 
by  the  people,  for  the  people,  shall  not  perish 
from  the  earth." 


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